President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose an additional 100 per cent tariff on Chinese goods, on top of the existing 30 per cent duties, effective November 1 or earlier.

The move marks a major escalation following months of relative calm in United States–China trade relations.

“The United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Friday afternoon. “Also on November 1st, we will impose Export Controls on any and all critical software.”

Trump’s decision comes in response to Beijing’s tightening of export controls on critical rare earth minerals essential for electronics manufacturing.

Consequently, he appeared to cancel a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping slated for later this month in South Korea.

Trump’s threat of tariffs on China triggered a massive sell-off in the cryptocurrency market, wiping out over $500 billion as total market capitalisation fell from $4.25 trillion to below $3.75 trillion.

The U.S. and China remain the world’s two largest economies.

While Mexico has recently overtaken China as America’s top import source, the U.S. still relies on China for hundreds of billions of dollars in goods, and China remains one of the biggest markets for U.S. exports.