Trump announced new tariffs on Liberation Day a few days ago, and nobody is happy. The markets lost billions as soon as he announced a blanket tariff of at least 10% on almost every country and territory on the planet. Some countries like China are getting hit with significantly higher rates.
Worries that goods and services will cost more following the announcement started immediately. The iPhone 17 and the Nintendo Switch 2 are two examples of products that might cost Americans more than initially expected, as those tariffs are going to be passed on to consumers.
We’ve also seen plenty of official reactions from America’s trade partners, but China chose to do things a little differently. Chinese state media used AI to generate plenty of videos slamming Trump’s tariffs. They even used AI to make a song inspired by Taylor Swift’s Look What You Made Me Do, and to generate a movie where a robot called T.A.R.I.F.F. takes its own life after realizing what his mission — imposing tariffs — will do to the world.
China has been the primary target for Trump’s tariffs during his first term, and the Liberation Day tariffs add an extra 34% tax on goods imported from the country. The Chinese obviously aren’t happy, as tariffs will impact demand for goods produced in the country. Again, the iPhone and Switch 2 are good examples.
Needless to say, China’s response to Trump’s tariffs won’t be limited to Beijing-approved AI videos. The Chinese government announced retaliatory tariffs for US goods that match Trump’s 34% tariffs.
The country isn’t only involved in a trade war with the US. The looming AI war might be even more important, which is why China’s use of AI to respond to Trump’s tariffs is so apropos.
Disregarding the obvious propaganda in some of the clips you’re about to see, there are other messages here. China is capable of using advanced AI that might be created in its own country rather than by Western tech giants to deliver impressive AI-generated content.
While the clips do not disclose the AI services used to make them, Chinese state media uploaded the videos to X and YouTube rather quickly after Trump announced his new tariffs. These videos are several minutes long each and take time to generate.
Also, the ease with which China responded with AI videos tells us the country could always engage in more nefarious actions. It might use AI for manipulation purposes in the future. In China’s defense, it’s worth pointing out that the clips all have clear disclaimers that tell the viewer the content was created with AI.
As Time reports, Chinese state news network CGTN published the Look What You Taxed Us Through (An AI-Generated Song. A Life-Choking Reality) song on April 3rd. The clip is based on Taylor Swift’s hit I mentioned before, and it’s nearly three minutes long.
The clip seems to feature real footage combined with AI-generated content, including a female voice singing in perfect English. The singer is likely AI-generated as well. The clip targets US users, supposedly telling Trump’s tariffs story from Americans’ point of view, but it’s subtitled in Chinese and English.
“For many Americans, ‘Liberation Day’ hailed by Trump administration will mean 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. Numbers don’t lie. Neither does the cost of this so-called’ fairness,'” CGTN captioned the video. “Warning: Track is AI-generated. The debt crisis? 100 percent human-made.”
Interestingly, the clip ends with quotes slamming tariffs that are attributed to Yale Budget Lab and The Economist.
China’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs also published a clip on social media on April 3rd in response to the new tariffs. This AI clip is shorter, but the message is similar. The video features two well-known songs: John Lennon’s Imagine and USA for Africa’s We Are the World. It tells a story of two worlds the viewer should choose from.
One is an “imperfect world” impacted by “greed” and “tariffs,” while the other is an obvious utopia of “shared prosperity” and “global solidarity.” Trump’s tariffs are bad for Americans and bad for the world, but China is definitely not the better alternative the clip suggests.
Nobody can offer that shared prosperity and global solidarity from the video, especially China. This is the kind of manipulation that AI tools can make happen with ease.
Finally, there’s the T.A.R.I.F.F. AI movie that dropped on April 4th from China’s state news service Xinhua’s New China TV. At over three minutes long, the clip tells the story of the Technical Artificial Robot for International Fiscal Functions robot, which is tasked by an evil Dr. Mallory to impose taxes on foreign nations.
“My existence is defined by the execution of international fiscal actions, with the primary directive being the imposition of tax on foreign imports,” the robot says in perfect English. I say that because the evil doctor speaks with an accent, which is unusual for a propaganda clip targeting US consumers. It’s also unusual, considering China uses advanced AI to generate the video.
Then again, the AI video isn’t as advanced as what we saw recently from Runway. The audio is synced well to the movement of lips, but this is an AI model that can’t display text propery. Also, the audio quality is lacking. The Taylor Swift-inspired clip is even worse when it comes to audio syncing. Just look for the Swift AI lookalike towards the end of the clip. Her mouth is always open when she is singing.
Back to T.A.R.I.F.F., after the robot starts implementing aggressive tariffs, it starts realizing their impact on the world: “unemployment rates rising, costs of living increasing, disruption of trade.”
The T.A.R.I.F.F. movie ends with the robot self-destructing after realizing it’s harming humans instead of protecting them. We don’t get to find out whether the robot reversed tariffs by blowing up the headquarters, but the message is clear: Tariffs are bad.
Neither clip seems good enough to go viral on social media, though I’m speculating here.
