China began censoring some tariff-related content on social media on Wednesday after US “reciprocal” tariffs took effect including massive 104 per cent duties on Chinese goods, while posts criticising the US were top hits.

Hashtags and searches for “tariff” or “104” were mostly blocked on social media platform Weibo, with pages showing an error message.

Other hashtags, particularly those suggesting that the US has an egg shortage, were amongst the most viewed on Weibo.

State broadcaster CCTV started a hashtag “#UShastradewarandaneggshortage.” (The US is “waving the tariff stick in a high-profile manner, imposing tariffs on EU steel and aluminium products… but also writing letters to European countries in a low voice, urgently asking for eggs,” CCTV said in a post on Weibo.)

The censorship also extended to WeChat, where a wide range of posts from Chinese companies that highlighted the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs were taken down by the platform, according to a review.

The censored posts were all marked by the same label stating the “content was suspected of violating relevant laws, regulations and policies.”

Internet censors have also allowed mocking US comments to proliferate on Chinese social media, depicting the United States as a globally irresponsible trading partner, as China prepares the stage for a wider trade fight with the world’s biggest economy.

China told the World Trade Organization that the United States’ decision to impose what it has called reciprocal tariffs on Beijing threatens to further destabilise global trade.

“The situation has dangerously escalated. …As one of the affected members, China expresses grave concern and firm opposition to this reckless move,” China said in a statement to the WTO on Wednesday that was sent to Reuters by the Chinese mission to the WTO.

China told a WTO meeting on trade in goods that the reciprocal tariffs violated the organisation’s rules and undermined the multilateral trading system.

“Reciprocal tariff is not – and will never be – a cure for trade imbalances. Instead, they will backfire, harming the US itself,” China’s statement to the WTO said.

US stock index futures moved sharply lower on Wednesday after China announced additional tariff measures on US goods. China will impose 84% tariffs on US goods from Thursday, the finance ministry said.

China will impose 84 per cent tariffs on US goods from Thursday, up from the 34 per cent previously announced, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. The commerce ministry said it had added 12 US entities to export control list and 6 U.S. entities to ‘unreliable entity’ list