As the world economy reels from President Donald Trump’s so-called “reciprocal tariffs,” the trade war between China and the US is escalating to new heights.
Nowhere is that more evident than in China’s wild clapback in the form of an AI-generated music video blasting the United States, which came hours after Trump announced a 34 percent tax on Chinese imports.
The English-language China Global Television Network (CGTN) released the song, called “Look What You Taxed Us Through” ahead of Wall Street’s worst single-day performance since 2020, during the throes of the pandemic. The song’s lyrics are written from the point of view of an American consumer, blasting Trump’s economic policy and daily life in the US more broadly. While the music video is AI-generated — a fact the CGTN advertises, unlike some American slopaganda — it also makes use of clips and audio from real sources like Trump rallies, Tesla protests, and American social media.
For many Americans, “Liberation Day,” hailed by Trump’s administration, means shrinking paychecks and rising costs. Tariffs hit, wallets quit: low-income families take the hardest blow. As the market holds its breath, the toll is already undeniable. #LiberationDay #CGTNOpinion pic.twitter.com/RzXFFVHoFg
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) April 3, 2025
“Groceries cost a kidney, gas a lung. Your ‘deals’? Just hot air from your tongue,” the song opens, overlaid with B-roll from Tesla protests and audio from inflation-wary Americans. It continues: “Elon’s satellites crash, Bezos’ wealth sinks, the GDP’s limping, the Fed’s out of tricks, your ‘patriot tax’ made Wall Street sick.”
While harsh remarks from US officials and mainstream media about China are nothing new, China rarely hits back with this much vinegar. Its appeal to US citizens to question their economy is clear: “CEOs buy yachts, we can’t afford a stew!”
But Beijing’s retaliatory strategy goes far beyond campy propaganda. China has matched the US’ tariffs with 34 percent tariffs on its own, sharply escalating a seven-year trade war. It also announced controls on rare earth exports, which could be a major blow for American manufacturing, as China produces about 90 percent of the world’s refined rare earth metal.
Unfortunately for people in the US, the CGTN’s depiction isn’t far off. Responding to the terrible rotten stock market dive, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell noted that Trump’s tariffs are “larger than expected,” adding that increased inflation, lost jobs, and stagnant economic growth are likely.
“We face a highly uncertain outlook with elevated risks of both higher unemployment and higher inflation,” Powell fretted.
US business leaders were a little less restrained.
“There will be blood,” was the message from JP Morgan’s Bruce Kasman, whose team released an analysis of the tariffs on Thursday. They warned that the risk of a recession has skyrocketed from an already uncomfortable 40 percent to a whopping 60. “At a basic level,” Kasman’s team calls the tariffs a functional tax increase on US citizens and businesses.
So far, Trump’s tariffs have wiped $2.5 trillion in US stock market value, and it’s anyone’s guess when we might hit the bottom. At least we’ll get some crafty Chinese propaganda when we do.
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