At the core of President Donald Trump’s decision to impose sweeping tariffs on U. S. trading partners is a fixation on closing, if not reversing, America’s trade deficit with nearly all of them.

The added tariffs would bring the total taxes that Trump has imposed on Chinese imports since he came into office to 104 percent.

Trading floors were overcome by a wave of selling as investors fled to the hills, with Hong Kong's loss of 13.22 percent its worst in nearly three decades.

US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened fresh tariffs of 50 percent on China and ruled out any pause in his aggressive new global trade policy, despite a dramatic market sell-off.