PDB Afternoon Bulletin | April 11th, 2025: China Signals No More Tariff Hikes After Latest Escalation & Bombshell Report Reveals The CCP's Role In Cyberattacks On US Infrastructure
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It's Friday, the 11th of April. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, an update on the ongoing trade war. As China hits back at Trump's massive 145% tariff,

by hiking rates on U.S. goods. But officials with the Chinese Communist Party, the CCP, also signaled that it's likely that will be their last escalation, saying they'll ignore any additional tariff increases by the U.S.,

Later in the show, a report reveals that Chinese officials acknowledged in a secret meeting that their government is behind widespread cyber attacks targeting critical U.S. infrastructure over America's support for Taiwan. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. China is once again striking back in the rapidly intensifying trade war with the U.S., but signaled

that it will be their last escalation, dismissing any further tariff hikes by the Trump administration as a "joke" that they plan to ignore.

On Friday morning, the Chinese finance ministry announced that they will increase tariffs on U.S. goods from 84% to 125%, matching President Trump's levy on Chinese imports imposed on Wednesday. The increased trade tax is set to take effect on Saturday and will impact some $144 billion worth of U.S. exports, namely agricultural products like soybeans, according to a report from Axios.

As a reminder, earlier this week, President Trump hiked his tariff on China, our third-largest trading partner, to 125%, despite granting the rest of the world a 90-day tariff pause to negotiate new trade deals. The White House later clarified that the new tariff comes on top of a 20% duty

imposed earlier this year over China's role in the manufacturing of illicit fentanyl, raising the total baseline rate, are you following me so far, on Chinese imports to an eye-watering 145%.

As we've been tracking this week on the PDB, China has responded with angry condemnations. I don't know if there's any other kind of condemnation other than angry, vowing to fight to the end. But their latest statement suggests that they may already be feeling the pressure and are perhaps eager to avoid further escalations that risk further damaging their fragile economy.

After their latest tariff retaliation on Friday, officials with the Chinese finance ministry said, quote, "...even if the U.S. continues to impose higher tariffs, it will no longer make economic sense and will become a joke in the history of the world economy." The statement continued, quote, "...given that American goods are no longer marketable in China under the current tariff rates, if the U.S. further raises tariffs on Chinese exports, China will disregard such measures." End quote.

The remarks appear to, possibly, leave a small opening for easing tensions with the Trump administration, though if the events of the past week are anything to go on, we can likely expect another retaliation by President Trump. So, why does China appear reluctant to continue in the tit-for-tat exchange with the U.S.?

Well, possibly because China's economy has been powered by selling cheap goods for decades, but it's wholly dependent on maintaining a global trade surplus. Trump's tariffs have undermined that system and will force Chinese manufacturers to either slash their profit margins considerably or hike prices for consumers, which could prompt American and other foreign buyers to look to other markets.

Given that China already faces considerable economic headwinds fueled by a debt bubble, high rates of unemployment, and persistently low consumption, it's in their best interests to avoid provoking the Trump administration any further.

In his first public remarks regarding the trade war, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that China was "not afraid" but called on the U.S. to back off their confrontational trade policies. Xi said, "There are no winners in a trade war, and going against the world will only lead to self-isolation."

Xi also urged the European Union to join China to "oppose unilateral acts of bullying." But the EU, along with frankly much of the world, is taking a cautious approach after Trump's tariff pause, seeking to negotiate a resolution with the White House, leaving China somewhat isolated for the time being.

Meanwhile, in remarks at the White House on Friday afternoon, President Trump touted his tariff policy as a success for bringing trade partners to the negotiating table, saying America was "doing really well." But economists say significant risks remain, particularly due to the situation with China. U.S. stocks, after posting a historic rally on Wednesday, plummeted on Thursday.

While they stabilized on Friday, investor confidence remains shaky at best.

The head of the global asset firm, Janis Henderson, told Reuters, "Recession risk is much, much higher now than it was a couple weeks ago." And Larry Fink, the CEO of the US asset titan BlackRock, echoed those concerns on Friday, warning that there will be a widespread economic slowdown and that we're on the edge of it, if not already in the early stages of a recession.

Coming up next, China exposes their role in a wave of cyber attacks targeting critical U.S. infrastructure. I'll have the details when we come back.

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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. Sticking with China, I want to turn to the Chinese Communist Party's ongoing and aggressive cyber operations against the U.S. An exclusive report from the Wall Street Journal revealed on Thursday that Chinese officials acknowledged in a secret meeting late last year that their government was behind widespread cyber attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure.

The explosive findings attributed to unnamed sources familiar with the matter come at a time when tensions between the US and China are arguably at a historic low.

The sources told the Journal that during the closed-door meeting at a summit in Geneva in December, Chinese officials tacitly admitted to pursuing a years-long cyber campaign that has hacked into computer networks at U.S. ports, water treatment plants, airports, and other strategic targets. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the State Department, the National Security Council, the Pentagon, and U.S. intelligence agencies, but had not been previously disclosed.

And this is where the reporting gets tricky. U.S. officials present at the meeting said Chinese officials didn't directly state that their government was behind the campaign, but said they perceived the comments from the Chinese delegation as confirmation of their role in the operations. Chinese officials reportedly implied that the campaign was a response to increasing U.S. support for Taiwan and was meant to scare the U.S. into backing off from involving itself in the situation.

Now, you've likely heard of this operation before. It's been linked to a Chinese-based hacking collective dubbed Vault Typhoon. The CCP has always publicly denied any affiliation to that group, describing them as a rogue criminal outfit, not that US officials ever took their denials seriously. Vault Typhoon has been implicated in a series of attacks on US critical infrastructure since at least mid-2021. At various times,

hitting port operations, internet service providers, and utilities. Officials have long warned that the hackers are working on behalf of the CCP to undermine U.S. readiness, especially in the context of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Volt Typhoon employs sophisticated botnets for its attacks, which are essentially a network of infected computers that collectively execute an attacker's commands. Globally, Volt Typhoon has commandeered a vast array of vulnerable digital devices such as routers and modems, even internet-connected security cameras. Notably, their cyber incursions have regularly targeted critical infrastructure

in the U.S. territory of Guam, where the U.S. military has a strategically important outpost to counter threats in the South China Sea. Those attacks underscore China's focus on undermining U.S. military capabilities in the region as they continue to step up their military harassment of Taiwan.

Officials with the State Department declined to directly comment on the revelations from the Wall Street Journal but said, quote, "...Chinese cyber threats are some of the gravest and most persistent threats to U.S. national security. The U.S. will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to safeguard U.S. critical infrastructure from irresponsible and reckless cyber attacks from Beijing," end quote.

Unsurprisingly, officials with the Chinese embassy firmly denied any involvement in cyber attacks, calling the reports, quote, smear attacks without any factual basis, end quote.

As to why Chinese officials would tacitly imply their involvement to the U.S. behind closed doors, well, that remains unclear, but analysts said that they likely wanted to send a direct message to the incoming Trump administration regarding a potential conflict over Taiwan. A China expert with the cybersecurity firm Sentinel-1 told the Wall Street Journal, quote, "...China wants U.S. officials to know that, yes, they do have this capability and they are willing to use it." End quote.

And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Friday, the 11th of April. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdbatthefirsttv.com. Now, I suspect that you already know this, but in case you weren't aware, it's Friday. And if it's Friday, which it is, that means that tonight at 10 p.m., just like every Friday night,

We'll be airing a brand new episode of our not yet award-winning but much-loved weekend show, The PDB Situation Report. You can catch the new episode on The First TV and over the weekend on our YouTube channel. You can find that at President's Daily Brief, as well as podcast platforms throughout podcast land. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with The PDB Situation Report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.