French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged on Friday that he left Washington after talks this week with President Donald Trump with scant hope that the European Union would avoid U.S. trade tariffs.

Beijing has less than a week to publish countermeasures as US administration takes a harder stance on its rival, despite backing down on 60% tariff threat after Trump took office.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated on Wednesday that Beijing might be "intentionally" inundating the United States with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, resembling a "reverse" scenario of the Opium Wars in the mid-1800s that weakened China's global position,

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that his proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will go into effect on March 4 and threatened an extra 10% duty on Chinese imports because deadly drugs are still pouring into the U.

China’s officials condemned President Trump for his decision to add a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports over the country’s alleged complicity in the international smuggling of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic drug.

Trump's new tariff threat are of fresh tariffs which come in addition to the previous 10 per cent one levied on February 4.