White House Clarifies That Duties on China Have Hit 145%
All’s fair in love and trade wars—at least when you’re U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump has made his message more than clear: do not retaliate against the United States’ trade policy. But Beijing hasn’t retreated, vowing to “fight to the end” in the red-hot trade war between the nations. The president clarified Thursday that, effective immediately, goods inbound from China would be subject to a 145-percent tariff, augmenting Wednesday’s measure imposing a 125-percent duty rate on China.
The White House explained that the 125-percent tariff came as an addition to the 20-percent tariff Trump previously decreed on Chinese goods, due to the country’s purported role in allowing the flow of fentanyl into the United States. Some products, though, could face duties higher than 145 percent. That’s because materials like steel and aluminum—alongside several other product categories—will face up to an additional 25-percent levy, on top of the 145-percent duty.
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Trump’s ad valorem and flat-duty rates on low-value packages sent via international post also skyrocketed.
According to the New York Times, shipments already in transit—whether via sea or air—are exempt from the new tariffs, so though the change takes immediate effect, importers will likely only begin to see the fallout in the coming days and weeks.
The elucidation from the White House came just one day after Trump announced that he had decided to usher in a 90-day pause on the so-called “retaliatory tariffs” he doled out during last week’s “Liberation Day” press conference. Trump kept the 10-percent baseline tariffs for all impacted countries intact, but framed the pause on additional tariffs as a reward for those who had chosen not to retaliate against his initial tariffs.
That move saw the European Union pausing its measure to strike back against the U.S. with 25-percent tariffs. But Beijing’s mind had already been made up; on Wednesday morning, prior to the 90-day delay being announced, China said it would instate an 84-percent tariff on goods inbound from the United States—and Trump struck back.
On his Truth Social account, Trump heralded Wednesday as “A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” prior to announcing the 90-day pause.
And after the news of the pause hit investors, the stock market ballooned, hitting highs after several days of trepidation over tariffs. But on Thursday, investors showed signs of cold feet, and seemed to decide that it wasn’t such a great time to buy, after all. After Trump clarified the 145-percent duty on Chinese goods, the S&P, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average immediately careened downward, losing half the gains of Wednesday’s rally.
On Thursday, Trump defended the tariffs, noting that they will, in time, be “a beautiful thing” and saying that the U.S. is “in very good shape.” Still, he admitted, there are likely to be “transition problems.”
“A big day yesterday. There will always be transition difficulty—but in history, it was the biggest day in history, the markets. So we’re very, very happy with the way the country is running. We’re trying to get the world to treat us fairly,” Trump said this afternoon.
