Donald Trump has announced the US will impose an additional 100% tariff on China imports, accusing it of taking an “extraordinarily aggressive position” on trade.

In a post to his Truth Social platform on Friday, the US president said Beijing had sent an “extremely hostile letter to the world” and imposed “large-scale export controls on virtually every product they make”.

Mr Trump, who warned the additional tariffs would start on 1 November, said the US would also impose export controls on all critical software to China.

The president added that he was imposing the tariffs because of export controls placed on rare earths by China.

He wrote: “Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and speaking only for the USA, and not other nations who were similarly threatened, starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a tariff of 100% on China, over and above any tariff that they are currently paying.

“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is history. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Mr Trump said earlier on Friday that there “seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a scheduled meeting as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea at the end of this month.

He had posted: “I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems no reason to do so.”

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The trip was scheduled to include a stop in Malaysia, which is hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, a stop in Japan and then the stop to South Korea, where Mr Trump would meet Mr Xi ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Mr Trump added: “There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration.”

The move signalled the biggest rupture in relations in six months between Beijing and Washington – the world’s biggest
factory and its biggest consumer.

It also threatens to escalate tensions between the two countries, prompting fears over the stability of the global economy.

Friday was Wall Street’s worst day since April, with the S&P 500 falling 2.7%, owing to fears about US-China relations.

China had restricted the access to rare earths ahead of the meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi.

Under the restrictions, Beijing would require foreign companies to get special approval for shipping the metallic elements abroad.

Multiple people have been killed and others are missing after an explosion at a Tennessee military munitions plant.

Secondary explosions have forced rescuers back from the burning site at Accurate Energetic Systems, according to the Hickman County Sheriff’s Office.

Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told a news conference: “We do have several people at this time unaccounted for.

“We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation. We do have some folks. We can confirm that we do have some that are deceased.”

The cause of the blast, which occurred at 7.45am on Friday (1.45pm in the UK), was not immediately known.

Video from the scene showed flames and smoke billowing from a field of debris.

Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the Tennessee plant because of continuing explosions, Hickman County Advanced MT David Stewart said.

Residents in Lobelville, a 20-minute drive from the scene, told the Associated Press that they felt their homes shake and some people captured the loud boom of the explosion on their home cameras.

Gentry Stover, who was woken from his sleep by the blast, said: “I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it.

“I live very close to Accurate and I realised about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”

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According to its website, Accurate Energetic Systems manufactures products for the defence, aerospace, demolition, and oil and gas industries

It adds that the company makes and tests explosives at an eight-building facility that sprawls across wooded hills near Bucksnort, a town about 60 miles southwest of Nashville.

Letitia James – New York attorney general and long-time critic of Donald Trump – has been indicted for fraud.

Ms James, a Democrat, was charged on Thursday with one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution, in connection with a home she purchased in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020.

The 66-year-old could face up to 30 years in prison and up to a $1m (£752m) fine on each count if convicted, according to Sky’s US partner network NBC News.

Mr Trump has been advocating charging Ms James for months, posting on social media without citing any evidence that she’s “guilty as hell” and telling reporters at the White House: “It looks to me like she’s really guilty of something, but I really don’t know.”

In a lengthy statement, Ms James vehemently denied any wrongdoing and described the indictment as “nothing more than a continuation of the president’s desperate weaponisation of our justice system”.

She said: “These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost.”

The indictment was presented to a grand jury by Lindsey Halligan, the newly appointed attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Ms Halligan, who has previously worked as a lawyer for Mr Trump, replaced veteran prosecutor Erik Siebert, who had resisted filing charges against Ms James and former FBI director James Comey, who was charged with lying to Congress two weeks ago.

The indictment pertains to Ms James’s purchase of a house in Norfolk, where she has family.

During the sale, she allegedly signed a document called a “second home rider” in which she agreed to keep the property primarily for her “personal use and enjoyment for at least one year”. However, the indictment claims she instead rented it out to a family of three.

According to the indictment, the misrepresentation allowed Ms James to obtain favourable loan terms that are not available for investment properties.

History of Trump and James

Ms James’s indictment is the latest indication that the Trump administration is determined to use the powers of the justice department to target the president’s political and public figure foes.

In a statement on Truth Social last month, Mr Trump called on US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who leads the department, to prosecute his political opponents.

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Trump wrote.

Ms James is a particularly personal target of Mr Trump. During the president’s first term in office, she sued him and his administration dozens of times.

Last year, she won a staggering judgment against the Trump Organization after she brought a civil lawsuit alleging he and his companies defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements.

An appeals court later overturned a hefty fine Mr Trump was ordered to pay, but upheld a lower court’s finding that he had committed fraud.

What happens now?

Ms James is scheduled to make an initial appearance in the federal court in Norfolk on 24 October.

The case has been assigned to US District Judge Jamar K Walker, who was appointed by Joe Biden.

The standard for securing an indictment before a federal grand jury is much lower than securing a unanimous conviction by a jury at trial, NBC reported.

The Justice Manual, which guides federal prosecutors, says attorneys for the government should move forward on a case only if they believe the admissible evidence – evidence that is allowed to be presented in a court of law – would be enough to obtain and sustain a conviction.