The Trump administration gave the tech industry and consumers a collective heart attack this morning with a statement that suggested the US would raise tariffs on China to 245%. The White House published an official fact sheet that said,

China now faces tariffs up to 245 per cent on imports to the US due to its retaliatory actions, the White House has said, as the trade war escalated between the world’s two largest economies. Separately in a post on Truth Social,

China has shrugged off the latest U.S. tariff hike, dismissing the Trump administration's threats as a "meaningless tariff numbers game." Newsweek reached out to the White House by email with a request for comment.

The clock is ticking on a race of President Donald Trump's own making: a sprint to negotiate dozens of trade deals before his 90-day pause on some tariffs expires — talks that negotiators of past trade deals say come with a range of strategic and logistical hurdles due to Trump's compressed timeline.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday inserted himself directly into trade talks with Japanese officials, a sign of the high stakes for the United States after its tariffs rattled the economy and caused the administration to assure the public that it would quickly reach deals.