The White House said China is now facing up to a 245 percent tariff on imports to the U.S. “as a result of its retaliatory actions,” another escalation in a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The top potential tariff is higher than the previously stated 145 percent and was referenced in a fact sheet published by the White House late on Tuesday.
It accompanied an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that launched an investigation into the “national security risks posed by U.S. reliance on imported processed critical minerals and their derivative products.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was asked about the 245 percent rate at a press briefing on Wednesday. “You can ask the U.S. side for the specific tax rate figures,” Lin said, China News Network reported.
“This tariff war was initiated by the United States, and China’s necessary countermeasures are to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and international fairness and justice, which are completely reasonable and lawful.”
Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on imports from all countries. He has temporarily paused additional “reciprocal” rates set individually for each country depending on the trade barriers faced by the U.S. to allow time for negotiations on new deals.
The exception to that pause is China, which is facing increasingly higher tariffs from the U.S. and has responded in kind, among other countermeasures.
This week, China imposed more export controls on rare earths, which include materials used in high-tech products, aerospace manufacturing, and the defense sector.
Despite the eye-watering tariffs and tough rhetoric, both the U.S. and China have said they are open to talks on trade, though further tit-for-tat retaliation is likely in this conflict between two great powers.
You must log in or register to comment.
China doesn’t face a 245% tariff. Us US individuals and small businesses face a 245% tariff.
Why doesn’t he just make them infinity percent? You know, like the way children use the idea of infinity.
I dare you. I double dare you. I dare you times 100. I dare you times infinity.
It might as well be, except for the theater of it.
“Given that, at the current tariff level, U.S. exports to China are no longer commercially viable, China will not respond to any further tariff hikes by the U.S. on Chinese goods,” the ministry said.
The U.S’ tactics of weaponizing tariffs have become “a joke,” it said in a statement.
“If the U.S. keeps playing the numbers game of tariffs, China will ignore it,”
i am not sure what else the us thinks it can leverage to demand that high of a tarriff.
i’ve read trump say china needs us demand and consumption. i haven’t seen any facts and numbers to back that up.
Exports to US account for roughly 2% of China’s economy, it’s clearly not significant for China
Just a small note for clarity, but the US is not demanding a tariff from China. The US is imposing a tariff on goods from China, and US citizens are the ones that pay that. It’s not like Trump is asking China to fork over a bunch of money. He’s telling Americans that if they want Chinese goods they are going to have to pay even more. In theory, this would cause Americans to buy less of these goods because essentially they can’t afford them, and therefore China suffers, but money coming from the US is probably not going to affect China the way that increased tariffs will affect Americans.
China’s already said they wouldn’t retaliate with tariffs anymore, so I wonder what their response will be.
More export controls on rare earths, or maybe selling off US treasury bonds?
Sell the bonds and make maga cry harder. 'It worked for Japan and Canada.
That’s 245%. Anyone else? 245% going, going, gone. Sold for 245%! Next!
just do a trade embargo at this point 🤣
October 2025: China will now face an ungabatillion percent tarrif! We can keep this going all day!
The US literally thinks they’re invincible. The fallout when reality finally hits them will be delicious.
Half to a third of the U.S. The rest of us know full well how bad this is. I really hope Cali puts its tariff exemptions in place and Oregon and Washington follow suit because otherwise we’re going to see the worst recession in the country’s history
He still doesn’t realize how tariffs work.
Is there a date when these show up for consumers? I’ve heard of small businesses getting hit from suppliers but store shelves and online prices have looked normal.
Are retailers holding off or something?
It won’t hit all at once for a lot of different reasons. Retailers’ back stock is not subject to tariff because it has already been imported. Raw material lead times for products assembled in the US will be longer than products imported ready for store shelves. Apple recently made the news for importing planefuls of iPhones the weekend before the tariff was applied. Smaller businesses won’t be able to do stuff like that, but big corporations will have likely done similar things to soften/slow price increases. And, until additional duties go into effect worldwide, lots of companies had already diversified their manufacturing out of China for US-bound products because of the already existing tariffs from Trump’s first term.
But once the companies have to pay the higher price, so will we all.
It’s not China “facing” the tariffs, it’s Americans
Won’t companies just avoid tariffs? They can’t just finish the products in another country? Poor and small companies on other hand are fucked since they don’t have a lot of money to evade tariffs.
This is all a front so Trump can claim he is hard on China. In reality, China bought a ton of his crypto with an agreement to implement tariffs. Trump only cares about lining his pocket and demonstrating power. This achieves both.
