The US took steps to impose levies on Chinese ships that dock at US ports, escalating the trade war between the world's two largest economy. On Thursday, President Trump struck an optimistic tone about negotiations with China,

Donald Trump is showing why independent central banks are a good idea. The president’s double tirade against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday conjured another dark cloud over financial markets and an economy repeatedly traumatized by his tariff and trade-war chaos.

Trump's comments further pointed to a diminished appetite for sharply higher across-the-board tariffs on dozens of countries after markets reacted violently to their introduction on April 2.

Trump tariffs in 2016 sent a glut of cheap Chinese imports, originally intended for the US, into South East Asia, hurting many local manufacturers. But they also opened new doors for other businesses, often into global supply chains that wanted to cut their dependence on China.

The White House said China is facing up to a 245 percent tariff on imports to the U.S. "as a result of its retaliatory actions," as the trade war between the world's two largest economies continues to heat up.

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.