Residents of China’s capital city expressed indifference and defiance on Saturday when asked by AFP about the latest threat by US President Donald Trump to impose blistering new tariffs on the country.

On Friday, Trump announced suddenly that the United States would slap additional 100% tariffs on all Chinese imports from November 1 “or sooner”, also calling into question an upcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping.

Chinese authorities have yet to publicly respond on the threat, which Trump said was in retaliation for Beijing’s new export control measures in the strategic rare-earth sector.

The ministries of foreign affairs and commerce did not comment when asked about it by AFP on Saturday.

“I felt nothing when I first saw the news,” said Liu Ming, a 48-year-old employee in a software company, outside a large Beijing shopping mall.

“Trump always has these childlike or capricious policies,” said Liu.

“China isn’t afraid of any US sanctions or policies aimed at limiting us. We have the confidence and ability to do better ourselves.”

‘Great commotion’

Like others interviewed by AFP on the streets of Beijing on Saturday, Liu sees Trump as fickle.

“From the perspective of a Chinese person, he is a bit unreliable,” he said.

“He always goes from this policy to that policy, causing great commotion in the world.

“It is not stable.”

Irene Wang, an insurance worker in her thirties, echoed the sentiment.

“He says one thing today, but maybe after a nap he’ll change his mind again,” joked Wang.

“At his age (79), he should be a little more composed!”

She believes the sky-high tariffs Trump is threatening could backfire.

“For Americans, it could have an impact,” she said, as tariffs on Chinese products could drive up prices in the United States.

As for the potential impact on people living in China, Wang acknowledged she couldn’t completely ignore the news.

“Honestly, it isn’t the first time, so we will have to wait and see how things play out.”

Hoping for ‘normal’

Some residents of the Chinese capital told AFP they expected only a moderate impact on their country’s economy if the trade war with Washington escalates again.

“The import-export sector, especially those businesses, will inevitably be affected to some extent,” said Jesicca Yu, 40.

But “for ordinary people in China, in the immediate future, I don’t think much will change in their daily lives,” she said.

Yu also bemoaned the tense relationship between Beijing and Washington.

“The more peaceful things are, the more economic development can take place,” she said.

“We hope things go back to normal.”

Lisa Liu, a colleague of Yu who is in her thirties, said she saw one good thing in Trump’s unpredictable approach to governing.

“He gives us a lot to talk about at the dinner table,” she said.

Justin Hawkins just admitted he never “intended to incite a feud” with Yungblud.

Yungblud was furious after The Darkness front man Justin blasted his MTV VMAs tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne, saying: “Yungblud seems to have positioned himself as a natural heir to the Ozzy legacy, having nothing to do with the really important stuff.”

In a new video on his Justin Hawkins Rides Again YouTube channel titled Yungblud And The Cost of Having An Opinion, Justin said: “There’s nothing feudy about it, especially when it comes to my reactions to the VMAs performance.”

He could also be heard saying, “None of that was intended to incite a feud. I think that Yungblud is a very well-connected and, as such, dangerous artist. He’s an individual who is not the sort of bear you’d go round poking.”

“But I think that when there’s real-time pitch correction happening [referring to his criticism of Yungblud’s use of autotune] and stuff like that, and the other observations I made about the overall delivery of it… you’re talking about somebody that came from musical theatre via Disney and is now being lauded as the future of rock. And if they have real-time pitch correction and that kind of background, I think it’s OK to be a bit skeptical about it,” Justin expressed.

He continued, “I know that’s not a very popular opinion but from the reaction community if you can’t say something negative about something that leaves you only one opinion available to you and that’s not how life works. Everybody’s allowed to say whatever they want.”

“I’m not slagging him off because… I don’t even think I’m slagging it off actually. I think I’m making a point that if the future of rock requires real-time pitch correction in a live environment rock is pretty f**ked, isn’t it?” Justin Hawkins concluded.

This comes after Yungblud slammed the “bitter and jealous” Justin Hawkins during his appearance on Ozzy Osbourne’s son, Jack Osbourne’s Trying Not To Die podcast, where he said, “I think the strangest thing about that was all I was trying to do was my best for your old man, because he gave me such a gift.

“When people try and intellectualise a sense of spirit and six musicians on a stage going ‘f**king love you man’, it’s just bitter and jealous,” the Zombie hitmaker further said at that time.

Prince Harry has released a meaningful statement after his father King Charles and brother William apparently sent the duke a strong message.

King Charles and William stepped out in rare joint engagement as they attended a Countdown to Cop30 reception ahead of the climate summit in November.

The King and Prince William made joint appearance following the Prince of Wales ultimatum to the monarch: “It’s me or Harry.”

The joint appearance of King Charles and Prince William shows the father and son are united.

Following the monarch and the Prince of Wales appearance, Harry and Meghan opened the Project Healthy Minds’ fourth annual World Mental Health Day Festival in New York City.

Prince Harry started the morning’s programming with an introduction that noted the widespread nature of our global mental health crisis.

The duke said, “These are not separate problems for separate people. They are interlocking injuries to our global community. Mental health is shaped by public health, foreign policy, climate policy, corporate design, and economic choices. Too often, decisions made by a few powerful actors ripple across the planet and into every aspect of our lives.”

Prince Harry also pointed out that the digital world has “fundamentally changed how we experience reality—young people exposed to relentless comparison, harassment, misinformation, and an attention economy designed to keep us scrolling at the expense of sleep and real human contact.”