US President Donald Trump has announced a 90-day tariff pause on India and other countries, but has categorically excluded China from this pause. The move appears to be aimed at isolating the trade conflict with China rather than continuing a global standoff. Trump rocketed the trade war with China by hiking the tariff on Chinese imports to 125% from the 104% level. Beijing responded by pressing 84% tariff on U.S. imports and has vowed to "fight to the end" in the escalating trade war between the world's top two economies. 

Trump has accused foreign countries of levying harsh duties on American products and “plundering” the US economy. China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said "The U.S. cause doesn't win the support of the people and will end in failure." Lin added that China will not sit back and allow the legitimate rights and interests of its people to be deprived. Trump said a resolution with China on trade is possible, but officials have said they will prioritise talks with other countries as Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and line up to try and strike a bargain.

U.S. President Donald Trump said “We used to build a ship a day and now we don’t do a ship a year, practically.” On 9 April, he signed an executive order to revitalise US shipbuilding and curb China’s dominance in the global shipping sector, pledging to spend “a lot of money on shipbuilding.”