A woman touches a bull statue on display outside a bank in Beijing, Monday, May 6, 2019. 

BEIJING (AP) — By threatening to raise taxes on Chinese imports, President Donald Trump is throwing down a challenge to Beijing: agree to sweeping changes in China’s government-dominated economic model — or suffer the consequences.

The unexpected ultimatum, delivered via tweets on Sunday and Monday, shook up financial markets that had been expecting the world’s two biggest economies to reach a settlement, perhaps by the end of the week, in a year-long trade dispute that has clouded prospects for the world economy.

“It’s a significant change in the president’s tone,” said XXX Keller, XXX. “It certainly increases the possibility that you’ll have no deal.”

For weeks, Trump administration officials

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Wiseman reported from Washington