In a dramatic escalation of the ongoing tariff wars, China announced Thursday it would respond to President Donald Trump’s latest 25% tariff threat on countries trading with Iran by slapping its own 25% import duty on all U.S.-origin tweets that so much as mention ‘Iran.’

Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Li Bingbing declared, “For every American social media post containing the words ‘Iran’, ‘protest’, or ‘Trump’, the sender will owe us 25% of their followers. We hope Mr. Trump enjoys reading tweets to himself and a handful of Russian bots.”

The White House responded swiftly, with Press Secretary Calvin Spicer clarifying, “President Trump will gladly pay the tariff, as a 25% reduction in Twitter followers will streamline his interactions with only the most loyal, caps-lock enthusiasts.”

Economists warned of the policy ripple effects. Dr. Maxine Yellen of the Institute for Global Nonsense noted, “This could trigger a worldwide glut of unsold hashtags and a sharp decline in sarcastic GIFs. The U.S. may be forced to stockpile clapping emojis.”

Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose nation has so far avoided the fray, offered his support: “We are preparing emergency Tim Horton’s shipments for anyone adversely affected by the impending meme famine.”

At press time, Iran’s official government Twitter account had announced a 25% discount on all regime-change hashtags, payable exclusively in sanctions.