China prometió el martes combatir los aranceles de Estados Unidos “hasta el final” después de que el presidente Donald Trump amenazara con aranceles adicionales del 50%, en una nueva escalada en la guerra comercial entre las dos principales economías mundiales.

Pese al temor a una recesión global provocada por los aranceles y que el lunes ya provocó el cuarto día de fuertes caídas en las bolsas, Trump parece descartar por el momento una pausa en su agresiva política comercial.

Leé también: En medio de la guerra comercial, Trump redobla la apuesta y amenaza a China con aplicarle aranceles del 50%

Beijing es el principal rival económico de Washington, pero también un socio comercial clave. El país asiático respondió con aranceles del 34% sobre los productos estadounidenses que entrarán en vigor este jueves 10, en represalia por las tasas impuestas por Trump, que alcanzarán un total de 54%.

Pero este lunes, Trump replicó con la amenaza de nuevos aranceles adicionales, esta vez de 50% que llevaría los gravámenes de Estados Unidos sobre los productos chinos a un total del 104%.

“Tengo un gran respeto por China, pero no pueden hacer esto”, dijo Trump en la Casa Blanca.

China respondió con denuncias de las “presiones, amenazas y chantajes” de Estados Unidos, en palabras del portavoz del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Lin Jian.

Por su parte, un portavoz del Ministerio de Comercio advirtió que “la amenaza de Estados Unidos de aumentar los aranceles contra China es un error tras otro y expone una vez más la naturaleza chantajista de Estados Unidos”.

“Estados Unidos insiste en seguir su propio camino, China luchará hasta el final”, agregó y expuso que el gigante asiático tomará “contramedidas” para defender sus “derechos e intereses”, aunque al mismo tiempo pidió “diálogo”.

China vuelve a devaluar el yuan

El yuan chino cayó este martes contra el dólar a su nivel más bajo desde 2023 después de que el banco central de ese país asiático aflojara ligeramente su control sobre la moneda, en un intento de abaratar las exportaciones y aliviar en cierta medida la presión sobre el comercio chino.

“La postura más radical de China sobre los aranceles de Estados Unidos podría alinearse con un cierto ablandamiento del yuan para absorber mejor los choques entrantes”, declaró a Reuters Vishnu Varathan, jefe de análisis macro para Asia en Mizuho Bank.

“Pero el Banco Popular de China no deseará ni buscará una depreciación brusca, ya que la estabilidad financiera es importante”, agregó.

Mercados alterados

Las bolsas se recuperaban un poco este martes tras un lunes de caídas generalizadas en los mercados de Asia, Europa y Estados Unidos.

En Asia, Tokio cerró con subas del 6% tras las pérdidas del más de 8% de la víspera. Y en Europa los principales índices abrieron en verde.

Los analistas temen que la guerra comercial provoque más inflación, más desempleo y menos crecimiento.

La UE pide a China evitar una “escalada” por los aranceles de EE.UU.

La presidenta de la Comisión Europea, Ursula von der Leyen, pidió este martes evitar una “escalada” en las tensiones comerciales durante una conversación con el primer ministro chino, Li Qiang.

Leé también: En medio de la guerra comercial, Trump prometió “acuerdos justos” a los países que negocien los aranceles

Von der Leyen “pidió una resolución negociada a la situación actual, y enfatizó la necesidad de evitar una mayor escalada”, indicó la Comisión.

También enfatizó “la responsabilidad de Europa y China (…) para apoyar un sistema de comercio reformado, libre, justo y nivelado».

Por qué Donald Trump inició una guerra comercial mundial

Trump asegura que la economía de Estados Unidos fue “saqueada” durante años por el resto del mundo y busca forzar nuevos acuerdos comerciales con decenas de países.

El secretario del Tesoro, Scott Bessent, afirmó en declaraciones a Fox News que los aranceles aduaneros anunciados el 2 de abril servirán para poner a Estados Unidos en una posición de fortaleza.

Leé también: ¿Donald Trump puede aspirar a un tercer mandato presidencial?: cómo es su plan para perpetuarse en el poder

Según Bessent, una vez reciban garantías de otros países sobre cómo abrirán aún más sus mercados a los productos estadounidenses “el presidente Trump estará listo para negociar” e indicó que “casi 70 países” ya se pusieron en contacto con Washington.

La semana pasada, Trump anunció un arancel general del 10% a todos los productos importados, al que se añaden gravámenes específicos por países, entre ellos los de la Unión Europea (20%) o Vietnam (46%) que deberían entrar en vigor este miércoles 9.

Los 27 países de la UE intentan buscar una respuesta común y el lunes propusieron una exención total y recíproca de derechos aduaneros para los productos industriales, incluidos los automóviles.

“No, no es suficiente”, replicó Trump, quien critica con frecuencia a Europa por no comprar suficientes bienes industriales estadounidenses.

The Trump administration has sacked a senior NATO official who was recommended by a conservative research group to be fired as part of a broader effort to purge wokeness from the Pentagon.

Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield, the only woman on NATO’s military committee, was dismissed from the alliance over the weekend without explanation, according to multiple reports. She is one of only a handful of female Navy three-star officers and was the first woman to lead the Naval War College, a job she held until 2023.

Chatfield reportedly got a call from Adm. Christopher Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was told the administration wanted to go in a different direction with the job, according to the Associated Press, citing officials. The officials said they believe the decision was made last week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but it was unclear whether he received any direction from President Donald Trump. Reuters was first to report on her termination.  

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It was unclear if her firing was related to any U.S. policy direction on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Trump and Hegseth have been vocal in their insistence that so-called woke policies are dead and have vigorously sought to remove leaders who promoted diversity, equity and inclusion and to erase DEI programs and online content. The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, is ditching almost 400 books from its library with DEI content.

In December, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a conservative research group, sent a letter to Hegseth with a list of 20 general officers or senior admirals whom it said were excessively focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and other similar left-wing initiatives. AAF wrote that focusing on such policies is an impediment to national security and Chatfield was one of eight women who made the list. 

Chatfield made the list due in part to a 2015 speech where she bemoaned that lawmakers in the House of Representatives at the time were 80% males, proclaiming that «our diversity is our strength.» The group said she also quoted a slide from a presentation by the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute highlighting «Investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment can unlock human potential on a transformational scale.»

Chatfield, a Navy helicopter pilot who also commanded a joint reconstruction team in Afghanistan, had been serving as one of the 32 representatives on NATO’s military committee. The panel is the primary source of military advice to the North Atlantic Council and NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group, according to NATO. It serves as the link between the political decision-makers and NATO’s military structure.

Senior NATO official Vice Admiral Chatfield has been sacked as the Trump administration purges wokeness and DEI from the Pentagon. (US Navy via Reuters)

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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that he was «deeply disturbed» by her sacking while blasting President Donald Trump. 

«Trump’s relentless attacks on our alliances and his careless dismissal of decorated military officials make us less safe and weaken our position across the world,» Warner wrote on X.

Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also sounded off on the president for the firing of Chatfield, describing it as «disgraceful.»

Admiral Chatfield is among the finest military officers our nation has to offer, and she has distinguished herself as the U.S. Military Representative to NATO. Her 38-year career as a Navy pilot, foreign policy expert, and preeminent military educator—including as President of the Naval War College—will leave a lasting legacy on the Navy and throughout the military. Admiral Chatfield’s record of selfless service is unblemished by President Trump’s behavior.

Reed also called out Republicans for not voicing their displeasure at her sacking, noting that Trump has fired 10 generals and admirals since taking office. It follows Thursday’s removal of General Timothy Haugh, the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command. 

For the Navy, it follows the firing of its top officer, Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to become Chief of Naval Operations.

Trump and Hegseth have been vocal in their insistence that so-called woke policies are dead and have vigorously sought to remove leaders who promoted diversity, equity and inclusion and to erase DEI programs and online content. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images, left, US Army, right.)

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«I cannot fathom how anyone could stand silently by while the President causes great harm to our military and our nation,» Reed said.

«I will continue to call out this unconscionable behavior and sound the alarm about the dangers of firing military officers as a political loyalty test. I urge my Republican colleagues to join me in demanding an explanation from President Trump and Secretary Hegseth.»

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump on Monday said the situation with Iran is entering «dangerous territory» as he announced his administration would be talking to Iran on Saturday.

While it’s not yet known what the talks will achieve, experts continue to warn that time is running out to not only block Iran’s nuclear program but to utilize existing tools to counter Tehran’s dismissal of international law, a mechanism known as «snapback» sanctions.

«This is the one time that we have the ability to sort of put new sanctions on Iran where we don’t need Russia and China’s help, and we can just do it unilaterally,» Gabriel Noronha of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America told Fox News Digital. Noronha is an Iran expert and former special advisor for the Iran Action Group at the State Department.

The ability to employ snapback sanctions on Iran expires Oct. 18, 2025, which coincides with when Russia will lead the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) presidency for its rotational one-month stint. 

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The provision for snapback sanctions was enacted under UNSC Resolution 2231, which was agreed to just days after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was signed in 2015 as a way to ensure that if Iran was found to be violating the nuclear deal, stiff international sanctions could once again be reimposed. 

The JCPOA has increasingly been considered a collapsed agreement after the U.S. withdrew in 2018 under the first Trump administration, followed by increasingly flagrant violations by Iran of the nuclear deal.

This has culminated in the rapid expansion of Tehran’s nuclear program and the assessment by the U.N. nuclear watchdog earlier this year that Tehran had amassed enough near-weapons-grade uranium to develop five nuclear weapons if it were to be further enriched. 

Centrifuge machines are shown in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran in 2019. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP)

European nations for years have refused to enact snapback sanctions in a move to try and encourage Tehran to come back to the negotiating table and diplomatically find a solution to end its nuclear program. 

Any participant in the JCPOA can unilaterally call up snapback sanctions if Iran is found to have violated the terms of the agreement. But the U.S., which has been calling for snapbacks since 2018, was found by the U.N. and all JCPOA members to no longer be legally eligible to utilize the sanction mechanism after its withdrawal from the international agreement. 

But as Iran continues to develop its nuclear program, the tone among European leaders has also become increasingly frustrated. 

France’s foreign minister last week suggested that if Iran did not agree to a nuclear deal and halt its program, then military intervention appeared «almost inevitable.»

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies has analyzed where Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is located. (Foundation for Defense of Democracies)

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«Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons,» Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot reportedly told France’s Parliament on Wednesday.

«Our priority is to reach an agreement that verifiably and durably constrains the Iranian nuclear program,» he added.

It remains unclear how much longer European nations will attempt to hold out for discussions with Iran, as Trump has said he is becoming fed up with Tehran and has threatened direct military confrontation, even while he has made clear his administration’s willingness to discuss a deal with Tehran.

With France serving as UNSC president in April and the bureaucratic red tape Russia could employ, UNSC members supportive of blocking Iran’s nuclear program must immediately call up snapback sanctions, Noronha said.

«It takes about six weeks to actually be implemented properly,» said Noronha, author of «Iran Sanctions, U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, and the Path to Snapback,» which was released last week. «And second, because the distribution of the presidencies and leadership of the U.N. Security Council is weighted towards more favorable leaders right now in the spring before it goes to pretty adversarial leadership in the summer and fall.»

An Iranian medium-range ballistic missile called Hayber (Hurremshahr-4) is seen after launch in Tehran on May 7, 2023. (Iranian Defense Ministry/Hanodut/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The expert said this is a rare moment for the UNSC, which in recent years has become increasingly ineffective in accomplishing major geopolitical wins because it is generally divided between the U.S., U.K. and France on one side and Russia and China on the other.

A single veto is enough to block a resolution being enacted, and progress in the council has become stagnant following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

But even if Russia objects to reimposing sanctions on Iran, as Tehran has become a close ally of Moscow’s, it actually has very few options for blocking the snapback mechanism that it previously agreed to, so long as at least one other nation actually calls for the sanction tool. 

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«This is the only time this has ever happened at the U.N. before,» Noronha said. «They basically said, when we invoke snapback, what it does is it says U.N. sanctions will automatically return unless there’s a vote by the council to unanimously allow sanctions relief to remain on the books.»

The snapback mechanism would legally enforce all 15 UNSC member nations to reimpose sanctions on Iran, including Russia and any nation that may be sympathetic to Tehran.

If the snapback mechanism expires come October, the U.N.’s hands will likely be tied when it comes to countering Iran’s nuclear program, as it is unlikely any new resolutions on the issue will be able to pass through the council given the current geopolitical climate between the West and Russia.