April 4 (Reuters) - The Dow fell 10% from its record

closing high in December, putting it on track to confirm a

correction on Friday, after China retaliated with fresh tariffs

a day after the Trump administration announced sweeping levies

on trade partners.

A rout in global stocks continued as Beijing said it would

slap additional tariffs of 34% on all U.S. goods, exacerbating

worries that a trade war could stoke inflation, dent demand and

tip the global economy into a recession.

President Donald Trump imposed a 10% tariff on most goods

imported into the U.S. earlier in the week and much higher

levies on dozens of rivals, especially China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped more

than 10% to 39,548.12 points from its record closing high of

45,014.04 on December 4.

If the blue-chip index closes 10% or more below this level,

it would be the final one among Wall Street's main indexes to

confirm a technical correction based on a widely used

definition.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq

confirmed they were in correction territory in March.

At 09:30 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 971.56 points, or 2.40%, to 39,574.37, the S&P 500

lost 130.30 points, or 2.44%, to 5,266.22 and the Nasdaq

Composite lost 488.85 points, or 2.95%, to 16,061.76.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru;

Editing by Anil D'Silva and Shounak Dasgupta)