The United States and China are locked in a faceoff over tariffs. No one wants to blink first. Could this be the beginning of the THIRD WORLD WAR???

The United States and China are locked in a faceoff over tariffs. No one wants to blink first. Could this be the beginning of the THIRD WORLD WAR???

WASHINGTON (AP) — The tariff fight between the world’s two largest economies spiraled into greater peril Wednesday as President Donald Trump tried to narrow his global trade war into a direct — and risky — faceoff with Beijing.

As Trump reversed his larger “reciprocal” tariffs on most of the world in the face of recession fears, he nonetheless hiked his tariffs on China once again — to 125%. The move locks the strategic rivals into a deepening standoff that endangers both their economies and interests around the world. The stakes are higher than ever, as the U.S. and China are already embroiled in competition on everything from artificial intelligence to monetary policy to overall global influence.

Each nation dares the other to blink first. But the rounds of escalation are raising concerns that the window for diplomacy has narrowed even further, while the economic pain on both economies intensifies.

Behind it all, as usual, geopolitics lurks — the concerns about regional and global security that are always in play when economic relations between two of the world’s most powerful nations turn aggressive.

“When you punch the United States of America,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, “President Trump is going to punch back harder.”