Trump tariffs update: China hikes taxes on US goods as trade war escalates
These are the updates for Friday, April 11, 2025, as US stock markets ended on a slight upswing after a turbulent week.
- China announced it has increased its tariffs on US imports to 125 percent, warning that the rate was high enough to effectively dampen US access to the Chinese market.
- This comes after the White House clarified yesterday that it was actually imposing tariffs totalling 145 percent on China, combining the previously announced 125-percent rate with a 20-percent import tax levied for fentanyl smuggling.
- By Friday afternoon, major stock indexes had rebounded slightly, after a rollercoaster week that saw shares in a slump.
- But US bonds continued to spike, indicating a sell-off is under way amid shaken confidence in the US economy.
That’s a wrap from us
Thank you for joining us for day 82 of Donald Trump’s second term as United States president.
Catch up on the latest in the deportation case against Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil here.
And curious about where ceasefire negotiations stand between Russia and Ukraine? We’ve got the latest on the talks between the Trump administration and Russia here.
Here’s a recap of today’s headlines
Our live page is soon coming to a close. Here’s a quick summary of the latest:
- China has hiked its retaliatory tariffs against the US up to 125 percent, in response to the 145-percent taxes the US has slapped on its exports.
- Beijing also mocked President Trump’s tariff policy as a “joke”, with President Xi Jinping warning that such aggressive trade policies could result in “self-isolation”.
- Treasury bond yields continued to spike on Friday, signalling a sell-off that experts credit to market uncertainty and wavering confidence in the US’s economic prospects.
- Stocks on indexes like the S&P 500 rose by the end of Friday, after a slump earlier in the day and a rollercoaster week, prompted by the US tariff policy.
- A court in Louisiana has cleared the way for the Trump administration to continue its deportation case against Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, on the basis that Secretary of State Marco Rubio deemed him detrimental to US foreign policy.
- The Department of Homeland Security announced it would rescind Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians currently in the country legally.
- Trump has announced a deal with multiple US law firms, whereby they avoid possible punitive actions by offering hundreds of millions of dollars in pro bono legal services.
Mexico to send water to Texas farmers as US treaty threat grows
Mexico will make an immediate water delivery to Texas farmers, President Claudia Sheinbaum said, to help make up for a shortfall under a treaty that has strained tensions with the US.
Mexico is looking for alternatives to comply with the 81-year-old water sharing treaty with the US, Sheinbaum said in her regular news conference. A proposal had already been sent to US officials, she added.
Sheinbaum has argued Mexico is complying with the treaty based on water availability, pointing to drought conditions that have sapped Mexico’s supply.
But Mexico’s failure to keep up with its water deliveries has sparked a diplomatic spat with its largest trading partner. A day earlier, Trump said he would escalate consequences, including tariffs or sanctions on Mexico.
Already, Mexico is subject to a 25-percent tariff on all exports to the US, outside of goods covered by the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.
“For Texas farmers who are requesting water, there will be an immediate delivery of a certain number of millions of cubic meters that can be provided according to the water availability in the Rio Grande,” Sheinbaum said.
The treaty’s current five-year cycle is up in October, but Mexico has sent less than 30 percent of the required water, according to data from the International Boundary and Water Commission.
Pennsylvania man charged over threats to kill Trump, immigration agents
Shawn Monper, 32, has been charged with making threats online to murder Trump and immigration agents, the US Justice Department says.
He was charged earlier this week with four counts of threatening to murder a US official to impede their official duties, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Pittsburgh.
“Rest assured that whenever and wherever threats of assassination or mass violence occur, this Department of Justice will find, arrest and prosecute the suspect to the fullest extent of the law and seek the maximum appropriate punishment,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
Monper made several comments on YouTube between February and April threatening to murder Trump, top US officials and agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the complaint.
“Nah, we just need to start killing people, Trump, Elon, all the heads of agencies Trump appointed, and anyone who stands in the way,” Monper allegedly wrote in one message cited in the complaint.
US warns airline passengers will soon face higher ID requirement
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has said it will begin enforcing long-delayed stricter ID requirements at US airports starting May 7, warning passengers could be denied access to flights.
On May 7, TSA will no longer accept state-issued identifications that are not REAL ID compliant.
Congress in 2005 approved new, stricter federal standards for issuing identification cards but enforcement has been pushed back repeatedly.
TSA said Friday that next month passengers 18 or older without passports or the enhanced ID “can expect to face delays, additional screening and the possibility of not being permitted into the security checkpoint”.
Russian envoy Dmitriev calls Putin-Witkoff talks ‘productive’
Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev described talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff as “productive”.
“Welcome to Saint Petersburg, Russia!” Dmitriev, who attended the talks, wrote on social media platform X in English.
Welcome to Saint Petersburg, Russia! 🕊️
Productive discussions with @SteveWitkoff. pic.twitter.com/CJbxQcu0FT
— Kirill A. Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) April 11, 2025
OCHA to cut staff by 20 percent due to ‘brutal cuts’ in funding
The United Nations’ humanitarian body has announced plans to reduce its staff of more than 2,000 people by 20 percent, citing “a wave of brutal cuts”.
In a letter to staff, Tom Fletcher, the head of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), wrote that the organisation would become more streamlined.
“We will reduce bureaucracy and reporting layers. We will become less top-heavy, substantially reducing senior positions … but have dynamic and full responses where we are present,” he explained.
In the letter, Fletcher said the agency is facing a funding gap of almost $60m. While he indicated several countries had made cuts to OCHA’s funding, he signalled foreign aid reductions from the US was part of the shortfall.
“The U.S. alone has been the largest humanitarian donor for decades,” he wrote.
Since February, OCHA has implemented austerity measures to save $3.7m internally. The latest cuts will also “reduce its presence and operations” in Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkiye and Zimbabwe.
“The context we face is the toughest it has ever been for our mission as OCHA, and the system we coordinate,” Fletcher said. “The humanitarian community was already underfunded, overstretched and literally, under attack. Now, we face a wave of brutal cuts.”
Rights advocates sue Trump over ICC sanctions
In February, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its decision to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The two men had been accused of committing war crimes during Israel’s war in Gaza.
Trump’s sanctions, however, extended not just to ICC officials but to anyone who cooperated with the international court.
Rights advocates have warned that Trump’s decision could stifle an array of investigations for abuses committed around the world, preventing witnesses from coming forward or experts from weighing in.
Today’s lawsuit against the Trump administration argues that the sanctions infringe on the US right to free speech and the freedom of US citizens to interact with the court’s investigators.
“Because of this order, I’ve been forced to stop helping the ICC investigate horrific crimes committed against the people of Myanmar, including mass murder, torture, and human trafficking,” Matthew Smith, co-founder and CEO of Fortify Rights, said in a statement.
“This executive order doesn’t just disrupt our work — it actively undermines international justice efforts and obstructs the path to accountability for communities facing unthinkable horrors.”
How will US exports to China be affected by the trade war?
As the trade war intensifies between the US and China, certain American exports are likely to be heavily affected.
Energy products are among the top exports from the US to China, particularly oil. And China is the biggest consumer of US soya beans.
Karl Widerquist, a professor of philosophy and economics at Georgetown University in Qatar, said tariffs on those products is likely to have a disruptive impact.
“The oil and the soy beans are pretty basic products. China is going to disrupt its own supply chains by putting tariffs on those,” he said. “However, China may be very willing to do that in order to strike back at the US. And the people are likely to support that, as a response to what is quite obviously Trump’s bullying.”
But Widerquist added that China may be more willing to forgo some US exports over others.
“Now, at the opposite end, the entertainment — that is something China can live without. They might love American movies and music, but it doesn’t disrupt the supply chain. They can live without ever seeing another Hollywood movie. They can completely embargo those at very little cost to themselves.”
Mahmoud Khalil ruling carries wide-ranging implications
The team representing Columbia University student protester Mahmoud Khalil has released a statement calling the ruling that allows his deportation a “dangerous precedent for anyone who believes in free speech and political expression”.
The decision from Judge Jamee Comans appears to grant a wide berth to the Trump administration to deport immigrants – even permanent residents – based on their expressions or beliefs.
While Trump has framed himself as a champion of free speech rights under the First Amendment, he has signalled his position that those rights do not apply to visa holders or permanent residents facing deportation.
In its deportation case against Khalil, his administration has pointed to an obscure provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows the secretary of state to expel a visa holder whose presence is deemed to have “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the US.
The secretary of state can make this determination based on an individual’s “past, current, or expected beliefs, statements, or associations that are otherwise lawful”, according to the law.
In court filings, Secretary of State Marco Rubio pointed only to Khalil’s involvement with pro-Palestine protests, which he broadly characterised as “anti-Semitic”. He pointed to no specific instances of anti-Jewish statements or actions from Khalil. No evidence of such actions has otherwise emerged.
Today’s ruling, while subject to appeal, shows a broad interpretation of the law that allows for deportations based on vague allegations, according to critics.
More meaningful evidence backing up those claims, the ruling suggests, may not be needed to justify expulsions.
Canada’s Conservative leader accuses Trump of ‘betraying America’s closest friend’
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre — one of the frontrunners to become Canada’s next prime minister following the upcoming federal elections — has lashed out at Trump amid the trade war between their two countries.
“President Trump is betraying America’s closest friend and attacking our economy. We must strengthen our economy and end our reliance on the United States,” Poilievre wrote, following the announcement the US carmaker GM would halt production of electric vehicles at a plant in Ingersoll, Ontario.
GM denies that the stoppage had anything to do with the steep tariffs Trump imposed on the US’s northern neighbour. It instead blamed low sales.
Still, the trade war has emerged as a leading election issue in Canada, with voters pushing for strong leadership against Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation.
Poilievre, who once held a commanding lead in voter polls, has seen his popularity slump after the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — his longtime political adversary — and the start of Trump’s second term. The CBC’s poll tracker currently places him seven points behind Liberal Party leader Mark Carney before the April 28 election.
A March 20 poll from the research firm Ipsos found that more voters saw Carney as more capable of handling Trump than Poilievre. The Conservative leader, however, has sought to defuse that perception.
“I will stand up for Canada and protect our autoworkers by axing the GST on Canadian-made cars and providing temporary liquidity to companies affected by these tariffs through the Keep Canadians Working Fund,” he wrote on Friday.
Read more about Poilievre here.
US carmaker ceases electric vehicle production in Ontario
Amid a slowdown in sales, the US automaker GM has announced it would cease electric vehicle production across the border in Ontario, Canada’s car-manufacturing hub.
GM denied the decision was tied to Trump’s tariffs on Canada, which faces a 25-percent tax on general exports to the US and a 10-percent levy on energy products.
Instead, the carmaker cited a slump in sales as the reason for the shutdown.
An estimated 1,200 workers in Ontario will be laid off as a result.
Trump renews opposition to daylight saving time
The US president has renewed his push to do away with daylight saving time, the practice of shifting clocks an hour back and forward in the spring and autumn, respectively.
“The House and Senate should push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day. Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Critics have long accused daylight saving time of being a disruptive force in US life, responsible even for a brief increase in car crashes each year.
But Trump has wavered over his commitment to abolish daylight saving time. Earlier this year, in March, Trump shrugged off the idea in a conversation with reporters.
“It’s a 50/50 issue, and if something is a 50/50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” he said.
Trump administration withdraws protected status for Afghans, Cameroonians
The Trump administration has ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of Afghans and Cameroonians living in the US, according to a statement from a Department of Homeland Security official.
TPS allows foreign nationals to live in the US legally, when events like natural disaster, warfare or instability cause them to be temporarily displaced.
Nearly 14,600 Afghans risk being out of compliance with US immigration law once their TPS status expires in May.
Another 7,900 Cameroonians will lose their status in June, according to Friday’s announcement.
Bipartisan lawmakers and veterans groups had pushed for more legal avenues to allow Afghans to arrive in the US, particularly as those who worked alongside US troops or in the US-backed government faced retribution under Taliban leadership.
The Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in a lightning offensive in 2021, after Biden executed a Trump-era deal to withdraw US troops from the country.
Still, Trump has sought to roll back TPS status for several groups of foreign nationals, as part of his crackdown on immigration.
Witkoff says US open to compromise in Iran talks: Report
The White House said the US plans to take a hard line in its direct talks with Iran tomorrow, concerning Tehran’s nuclear programme.
But US envoy Steve Witkoff signalled there is more room to negotiate than previously indicated.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Witkoff said the US’s starting position will call for the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear programme.
“That doesn’t mean, by the way, that at the margin we’re not going to find other ways to find compromise between the two countries,” he said, adding a US “red line” would be Iran developing a nuclear weapon.
Tehran has long denied any intention of building a nuclear weapon, maintaining that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes only.
‘Nothing is more important than due process’: Khalil tells court
Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi has reported that Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil addressed the court during today’s hearing.
“No electronic devices were allowed in in the courtroom. Khalil, we’re told, was calm throughout the proceedings,” Rattansi reported from Jena, Louisiana, where a judge just ruled that the government’s deportation case against Khalil can proceed.
“He said, ‘Nothing is more important than due process and fundamental fairness. Neither of these principles were present. This is why the Trump administration sent me to this court thousands of miles from my family,'” Rattansi said.
Immigration Judge Jamee Comans said at the conclusion of a hearing that the government’s contention that Khalil’s presence in the US posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences” was enough to satisfy requirements for his deportation.
The Trump administration has maintained that that it has the right to deport Khalil and other pro-Palestine student protesters on US visas under a rarely used law, the Immigration Nationality Act of 1952.
It gives the secretary of state authority to deport foreign nationals who do not align with US foreign policy interests.
Mahmoud Khalil case underscores fight between ‘executive branch and constitution’
A judge in Louisiana is expected to soon decide whether detained Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil is deportable or if he can be released.
Khalil’s case underscores “a fight between the executive branch and our constitution with regards to how we treat foreign nationals in this country”, according to Allen Orr, an immigration lawyer.
The Trump administration has maintained that the US Constitution’s freedom of speech protections are not extended to immigrants like Khalil, who is a US permanent resident.
It has cited a rarely used law — the Immigration Nationality Act of 1952 — that allows the secretary of state to deport immigrants who pose “serious adverse foreign policy consequences” to the US.
Orr pointed out inconsistencies in the Trump administration’s treatment of the Khalil case, including a recording that showed immigration agents appearing to think Khalil was on a student visa, not a green card.
That, he said, “show me that our government really didn’t do the detailed work it would if Khalil was really considered a concern for this country”.
Judge rules Mahmoud Khalil deportation case can continue
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration has presented enough evidence to move forward with deporting Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card holder and leader in recent pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
Khalil can still apply for relief by April 23.
China warns US goods no longer viable in its market under Trump tariffs
After days of back and forth tariff hikes in the escalating trade war between the United States and China, Beijing has announced what it says is its last increase on all US goods.
Duties will be raised from 84 to 125 percent on Saturday, matching those imposed earlier by the Trump administration.
The announcement came after Washington clarified that levies on Chinese goods were set at 145 percent.
Beijing says that any further increases by US President Donald Trump will be ignored because the abnormally high tariffs violate international trade rules and common sense and will become a joke. The statement also said the levy of 125 percent means American goods will no longer be viable in its market.
The US and China trade goods worth about $700bn each year. Analysts say tough times are ahead for businesses in both countries.
Judge allows immigration enforcement operations in places of worship
A federal judge has refused to block immigration agents from conducting enforcement operations at houses of worship, responding to a lawsuit filed by religious groups.
In the ruling, US District Judge Dabney Friedrich said that, so far, few such enforcement actions had taken place. She ruled that the faith groups had not shown they had suffered legal harm.
Upon taking office in January, the Trump administration rolled back a longstanding policy that prevented immigration enforcement in sensitive areas, including places of worship, schools and hospitals, as part of his campaign for “mass deportation”.
