China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has issued a travel advisory urging citizens to assess the risks of visiting the United States, citing deteriorating bilateral relations and concerns over domestic security. The warning comes as tensions intensify between Washington and Beijing following a new round of sweeping U.S. tariffs.
"Recently, due to the deterioration of China-U.S. economic and trade relations and the domestic security situation in the United States, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to fully assess the risks of traveling to the United States and be cautious," the ministry stated on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Education also released a separate warning directed at Chinese students, highlighting risks associated with studying in the U.S. after the state of Ohio enacted the Higher Education Act, which includes provisions seen as discriminatory toward Chinese academic exchanges.
The advisories arrived just hours after China announced a sharp increase in tariffs on U.S. imports, raising duties from 34% to 84% starting April 10. The move is in direct response to the Trump administration's new 104% tariff on Chinese goods, which took effect Wednesday. President Trump announced the additional 50% tariff last week following China's own retaliatory measures.
"Until they make a deal with us, that's what it's going to be," Trump said at a National Republican Congressional Committee dinner Tuesday night. "China will. They want to make a deal, they really do... they just don't know how to get it started."
China's Ministry of Finance blasted the U.S. escalation, calling the 104% tariff a "mistake on top of a mistake" and accusing Washington of "seriously undermining the rules-based multilateral trading system."
The U.S. move is part of a broader campaign of "reciprocal" tariffs against dozens of countries, with the administration claiming it is correcting long-standing trade imbalances and incentivizing domestic manufacturing.
Meanwhile, markets have grown increasingly jittery over the deepening trade war. Multiple European nations-including France, Germany, Ireland, and the U.K.-have updated their own travel advisories for the U.S. following Trump's crackdowns on immigration and LGBTQ+ rights.
Beijing's retaliation appears calibrated to match the U.S. pressure point-for-point. China's latest tariff hike closely mirrors Trump's latest escalation, reflecting a hardened stance on both sides.
