CNN
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President Donald Trump is set to impose an astounding 104% in levies across all Chinese imports on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday. This comes on top of Chinese tariffs that were in place prior to Trump’s second term.
China was already set to see tariffs increase by 34% on Wednesday as part of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs package. But the president tacked on another 50% after Beijing didn’t back off its promise to impose 34% retaliatory tariffs on US goods by noon Tuesday, adding an additional 84% in duties.
“Countries like China, who have chosen to retaliate and try to double down on their mistreatment of American workers, are making a mistake,” Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. “President Trump has a spine of steel, and he will not break.”
“The Chinese want to make a deal, they just don’t know how to do it,” she added. She declined to share what, if any, terms Trump would consider to lower tariffs on China.
China was America’s second largest source of imports last year, shipping a total of $439 billion worth of goods to the US, while the US exported $144 billion worth of goods to China. The mutual tariffs threaten to hurt domestic industries and are poised to result in layoffs.
Earlier Tuesday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it “firmly opposes” the additional 50% tariffs on Chinese imports, calling it “a mistake upon a mistake.” The ministry vowed to escalate its retaliation on US exports.
Dozens of other countries as well as the European Union also face a midnight deadline for new tariff rates. Those rates, which Trump laid out last week, range from 11% to 50%.
Leavitt told reporters that despite several conversations with world leaders aiming to negotiate lower tariff rates, Trump has little appetite to delay his plans.
Having spoken with Trump earlier on Tuesday, Leavitt said, “He expects that these tariffs are going to go into effect.”
At the same time, she said Trump instructed his trade team to make “tailor-made” deals with countries that want to negotiate. Pressed further on whether the president had any timeline or deadline for the trade deals, Leavitt again reiterated that they won’t be “off-the-rack deals.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
