China pledged to retaliate against Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat and stepped up efforts to support the market, raising the risk of a prolonged trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

“The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a Tuesday statement. “If the U.S. insists on its own way, China will fight to the end.”

The Chinese response came hours after Trump vowed to slap additional 50% import taxes on China unless it withdraws its tit-for-tat retaliation against his earlier levies. The blunt reaction suggests Beijing intends to resist the U.S. president’s pressure campaign, dimming the prospect of a deal in the short term.

“The rhetoric from China is strong,” said Michelle Lam, greater China economist at Societe Generale SA. “Without Trump backing down investors may need to prepare for trade decoupling between both countries.” 

Chinese authorities have signaled their determination to support markets. The central bank has loosened its grip on the yuan to boost the appeal of its exports and a group of state-linked funds known as the national team scooped up assets. Officials also promised loans to help stabilize the market and were reported to have considered frontloading some stimulus.

The onshore yuan slid to the weakest level since September 2023, while the offshore unit hit a two-month low Tuesday. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index jumped as much as 3.7% after capping its worst loss since the financial crisis in the previous session.

Trump’s latest charge would pile onto a 34% “reciprocal” duty set to kick in April 9, as well as a 20% hike implemented earlier this year, according to a White House official. That takes the cumulative tariff rate announced this year to 104%—effectively doubling the import price of any goods shipped from China to the U.S.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce also called for dialogue to resolve disputes in its statement, despite Trump’s warning that “all talks with China” about a meeting will be terminated if Beijing doesn’t take action, without specifying what would be required.

The escalation in tensions makes any imminent call between the two world leaders less likely. Trump hasn’t spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping since returning to the White House, the longest a U.S. president has gone without talking to his Chinese counterpart post-inauguration in 20 years.

The Communist Party’s official newspaper this week published an editorial declaring that Beijing is no longer “clinging to illusions” of striking a deal. Instead, officials are focusing on shielding the economy. Xi has vowed to boost domestic consumption with tariffs expected to hurt exports, a sector responsible for a third of China’s economic growth last year. 

Underscoring Beijing efforts to stem an equities rout, a basket of eight exchange-traded funds favored by the so-called national team saw record net inflow of 42 billion yuan ($5.7 billion) Monday.

A weaker yuan could also offset the effect of higher tariffs. The Chinese central bank’s fixing on Tuesday— past the keenly-watched 7.20 per dollar level—signals more tolerance for depreciation. Bets on monetary stimulus have supported demand for China bonds, as 10-year sovereign yield hovered close to a record low set in early February.

China will hit back at new U.S. tariffs with equivalent measures as any fresh U.S. levies will add limited pain to the Asian nation, according to Ding Shuang, chief economist for Greater China & North Asia at Standard Chartered. 

“The marginal effect of raising tariffs further from the existing level of about 65% will shrink,” he said of additional U.S. tariffs. “Most Chinese exports to the U.S. have already been affected. For goods that are not price sensitive, tariffs won’t work no matter how high they go.”

In response to the latest U.S. move, China’s embassy in Washington called U.S. threats “not the right way to engage” with China.

“The U.S. hegemonic move in the name of reciprocity serves its selfish interests at the expense of other countries’ legitimate interests and puts ‘America first’ over international rules,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said.

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Remote work might be hurting women more than we realize, by throwing a wrench in their career progression, said the chief of Nationwide, one of the U.K.’s major banks and the world’s largest building society.

Debbie Crosbie, who has been CEO since June 2022 and dismantled Nationwide’s “work anywhere policy” in late 2023, thinks in-office presence is the key to career progression—especially for women. 

“We find, certainly at Nationwide … that men are more likely to come into the office than women,” Crosbie told BBC Radio 4’s Today program in December. “Being seen and then seeing other leaders is a really important part of development.”

Crosbie’s approach differs from that of her predecessor, Joe Garner, who strongly advocated for flexible work by rolling out a 100% work-from-anywhere policy. He cited productivity benefits and access to talent as reasons driving the move in 2021. 

But a year ago, Crosbie replaced that with a two-day minimum in office for full-time employees. In an op-ed from March 2023, she argued that remote and flexible work could limit the opportunities to cultivate future female leaders.      

“Several women in Nationwide speak with me now about how energised they feel once they are back in a routine with time in the office to focus uninterrupted on their role and career development,” Crosbie said in the op-ed published by The Independent. “In my early career, being in, around, and amongst great leaders was essential.” 

Some workplace experts have shared Crosbie’s concerns, worrying that remote work could be mistaken for absenteeism. And as women, people of color, and those with disabilities are the ones more likely to opt for remote work, it inevitably could hurt their careers the most. In such situations, remote work could also impact female employees’ self-confidence and morale, a Durham University paper found. 

A remote work crackdown has spread to much of the financial industry through 2023 and 2024, requiring staff to come into offices more. Spanish bank Santander, for instance, boasted that “flexibility is here to stay” at one point, with its U.K. boss even claiming that in-office presence was not critical. But Santander has since announced a 12-days-a-month in-office policy. 

Depending on how strict the RTO mandate is, employees have tended to push back. Take the U.K.’s Starling Bank, for example: The group ordered its staff back to the office for at least 10 days per month in November. But its offices didn’t have enough room to accommodate employees, sparking a furious reaction from them. 

The verdict on how effective remote work is and whether it’s good in the long run is divided. Some companies have sworn by it, and for many women, flexible work options have unlocked opportunities that didn’t previously exist. There are clear benefits to flexibility, which is why the U.K. has made it a right for workers to request it from day one of their employment. 

Nationwide is a leader in the number of female employees it has in the U.K.—about 60%, to be precise. That’s higher than HSBC’s 51% and Barclays’s 45%. 

“We are committed to flexible working to help get the very best from our people and offer a range of solutions like part time hours or job sharing,” a Nationwide spokesperson told Fortune.

Crosbie argued that in-office work could be critical for Nationwide’s female employees, and that companies are responsible for supporting them and accommodating their childcare responsibilities when needed.

“We just need to be careful that we don’t inadvertently prevent women from taking some of the opportunities by not being in the office when they feel it’s beneficial both to their skills and to contribute to the business,” Crosbie said. 

A version of this story was originally published on Fortune.com on Jan. 2, 2025.

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• White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro said in an interview that Vietnam’s offer for 0% tariffs on U.S. imports “means nothing.” He added that getting rid of tariffs on the U.S. is just a start and shifted the emphasis to non-tariff trade barriers and other issues which would require major internal shifts in target countries.

Vietnam scrambled to offer no tax on U.S. imports after President Donald Trump hit the country with 46% tariffs, but that move wasn’t enough for Trump trade counselor Peter Navarro, who accused it of “cheating” and increased the expectations for countries targeted by new tariffs.

Navarro, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, said in an interview with CNBC Monday that the country’s offer “means nothing.” 

“Let’s take Vietnam. When they come to us and say ‘we’ll go to zero tariffs,’ that means nothing to us because it’s the non-tariff cheating that matters,” he said. 

Navarro said that the alleged “non-tariff cheating” he referred to included letting China route its exports through a country to avoid tariffs, stealing intellectual property, and levying a value-added tax (VAT) on products.

Later, Navarro added that among the many problems the administration sees with its trading partners are export subsidies, currency manipulation, and “phony” technical and safety barriers for U.S. agricultural products. 

“They all cheat us in a different way,” he said.

Fifty countries have already reached out to negotiate tariff agreements with the White House, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told Fox News Monday. And while Navarro said Trump would listen to any offers, the president has stood firm on last week’s “liberation day” tariffs so far. 

On Monday, Trump threatened China with 50% additional tariffs if it did not drop its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports.

While Navarro argued that the Trump administration wants to restore “fairness” to global trade, he also seemingly moved the goalposts for negotiating countries by emphasizing “non-tariff barriers” over foreign tariff policies. Eliminating many of these policies, such as VATs, would require major domestic changes in the target countries.

He called Vietnam and other countries’ offer of 0% tariffs on U.S. imports “a small first start.” 

“This zero tariff thing, it’s a misdirection,” he added.

Trump’s tariffs paired with a tax cut the administration is reportedly planning will help American workers, Navarro claimed. 

Meanwhile, the stock market has plummeted on the tariff news, losing $6.6. trillion in value last week. On Monday afternoon stocks saw some relief but were still shaken. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up less than 1% while the benchmark S&P 500 index was down 0.2%. The Dow Jones was down 1%. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com