The United States announced that China now faces a new tariff of up to 245 per cent due to its retaliatory measures, according to a statement by the White House late on Tuesday.
The White House’s latest administrative order, revealed late on Tuesday, has launched a national security inquiry into vital resource imports. The order also included explanations for the reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2.
“China now faces up to a 245pc tariff on imports to the US as a result of its retaliatory actions,” the White House said.
“On day one, President Trump initiated his America First Trade Policy to make America’s economy great again,” it said.
“More than 75 countries have already reached out to discuss new trade deals. As a result, the individualised higher tariffs are currently paused amid these discussions, except for China, which retaliated,” it added.
“A few months ago, China banned exports to the US of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.
“Just this week, China suspended exports of six heavy rare earth metals, as well as rare earth magnets, in order to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.”
The statement did not clarify the exact tariff rate China faces, but it implied that the tariff rate could go up to 245pc.
China increased its tariffs on imports of US goods to 125pc last Friday in a tit-for-tat move to Trump, who effectively raised US tariffs on Chinese goods to 145pc while putting a 90-day pause on planned levies for other countries’ goods.
China told Washington today to “stop threatening and blackmailing” after US President Donald Trump said it was up to Beijing to come to the negotiating table to discuss ending their trade war.
Trump has slapped new tariffs on friend and foe but has reserved his heaviest blows for China.
“If the US really wants to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop exerting extreme pressure, stop threatening and blackmailing, and talk to China on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
“China’s position has been very clear. There is no winner in a tariff war or a trade war,” Lin said. “China does not want to fight, but it is not afraid to fight.”
This year, Trump has imposed an additional 145pc tariff on many goods from China, stacking atop duties from previous administrations.
Trump initially imposed 20pc tariffs on imports from China over its alleged role in the fentanyl supply chain, then added 125pc over trade practices that Washington deems unfair.
His administration has, however, given temporary reprieve for certain tech products — like smartphones and laptops — from the latest levy.
The White House said on Tuesday it was up to Beijing to make the first move towards ending the dispute, which economists warn could cause a global recession.
“The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” said a statement from Trump read out by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
China growth
China also said its economy grew a forecast-beating 5.4pc in the first quarter as exporters rushed to get goods out of factory gates ahead of the US levies.
“The escalation happening in April is going to be felt in the second-quarter figures as the tariffs will send stateside firms looking to other suppliers, impeding Chinese exports and slamming the brakes on investment,” Heron Lim from Moody’s Analytics told AFP.
Meanwhile, Japan’s envoy for talks slated for today in Washington said he was optimistic of a “win-win” outcome for both countries.
Ryosei Akazawa, who was due to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, said he would “protect our national interest”.
Also today, Honda said it will shift production of its hybrid Civic model from Japan to the US, although this represents a very small part of its global output.
The rationale behind the decision “is not a single issue”, a spokesman for the Japanese firm said. “The decision is based on the company’s policy since its foundation that we produce cars where the demand is.”
South Korea, another major exporter, in particular of semiconductors and cars, said that Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok would meet Bessent next week.
“The current priority is to use negotiations … to delay the imposition of reciprocal tariffs as much as possible and to minimise uncertainty for Korean companies operating not only in the US but also in global markets,” Choi said on Tuesday.
Chip stocks across Asia slumped after Nvidia said it expects a $5.5-billion hit due to a new US licencing requirement on the primary chip it can legally sell in China.
Trump also ordered a probe on Tuesday that may result in tariffs on critical minerals, rare-earth metals and associated products such as smartphones.
China unexpectedly appoints new trade negotiator
In a related development, China today unexpectedly appointed a new trade negotiator key in any talks to resolve the escalating tariff war with the US, replacing veteran trade tsar Wang Shouwen with its envoy to the World Trade Organisation.
Li Chenggang, aged 58, a former assistant commerce minister during Trumps’ first administration, takes over from 59-year-old Wang, the human resources and social security ministry said in a statement.
It was unclear if Wang, who assumed the No. 2 role at the commerce ministry in 2022, had taken up a post elsewhere. His name was no longer on the ministry’s leadership team, according to the ministry’s website as of Wednesday.
The ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the change, which was not explained in the human resources ministry’s statement.
Wang was regarded as a tough negotiator and had clashed with US officials in previous meetings, said a source in Beijing’s foreign business community. “He’s a bulldog, very intense,” said the source, declining to be named.
The abrupt change took place in the middle of President Xi Jinping’s tour of Southeast Asia to consolidate economic and trading ties with close neighbours amid the standoff with the US.
Commerce Minister Wang Wentao was among senior officials flanking Xi on his visit to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia this week.
Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a senior adviser to the Conference Board’s China Centre said the change was “very abrupt and potentially disruptive” given how quickly trade tensions had escalated and in light of Wang’s experience negotiating with the US since the first Trump administration.
“We can only speculate as to why this happened at this precise moment; but it might be that in the view of China’s top leadership, given how tensions have continued escalating, they need someone else to break the impasse in which both countries find themselves and finally start negotiating,” he said.
Li, who has held several key jobs in the commerce ministry, such as in departments overseeing treaties and law and fair trade, has an academic background in the elite Peking University and Germany’s Hamburg University.
“Judging by his CV, Li is a typical Chinese technocrat with extensive experience in working on trade issues at the commerce ministry as well as at the WTO,” said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the National University of Singapore.
“It seems like a routine promotion with nothing abnormal, but now is obviously a sensitive period due to US-China tensions.”
On March 31, Li attended a Chinese private entrepreneurs forum as a “leader” of the commerce ministry, according to a state media readout of the meeting, one of the first official hints of an impending move to a new role.
