How far will Trump take his trade war?

Good morning and welcome to White House Watch. I'm Steff Chávez, the FT's Washington reporter. Suit up for our tariff deep dive — and don’t forget your oxygen tank so you can keep breathing:

• The latest tariff chaos
• Bourbon levies
• Unhappy billionaires

We’re moving closer to a full-blown trade war after China vowed to “fight to the end” if Donald Trump pressed ahead with his threat to ratchet up tariffs again on the world’s second-largest economy.

Yesterday, the US president said he’d impose an additional 50 per cent tariff on Chinese imports if Beijing didn’t remove its retaliatory tariff today. That would bring levies on Chinese imports to more than 120 per cent, heaping pressure on American companies with Chinese suppliers.

In the Oval Office yesterday, Trump defended his draconian trade policy, despite the market turmoil:

“I don’t mind going through it, because I see a beautiful picture at the end. Countries that really took advantage of us are now saying ‘please negotiate’.

We’re going to have to reset the table on trade. And when we do, we’re going to come out unbelievably well.”

Wall Street stocks rode a rollercoaster yesterday as an anonymous X account falsely claimed that there would be a 90-day tariff pause. All three major indices briefly turned positive before the White House denied it and sent stocks back down. . . . Register for the FT to keep reading the newsletter for free.