Trump says he plans to impose 10% tariff on Chinese imports on February 1

President Trump said on Tuesday that he intends to impose 10% tariffs on Chinese imports into the United States on February 1, a decision that is sure to escalate trade tensions between the world’s largest economies.
In a speech at the White House, Trump said the tariffs were in response to China’s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis. Trump said China was shipping fentanyl to Canada and Mexico, from where it was shipped to the United States.
Trump said on Monday he planned to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico as punishment for allowing fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the United States.
“We are discussing a 10 percent tariff on China because they are shipping fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” Trump said.
The tariffs are in addition to those imposed on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese imports during Trump’s first term. Those tariffs were maintained by former President Joseph R. Biden, who imposed additional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, solar cells, semiconductors and advanced batteries.
Trump’s pledge to impose tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico is expected to lead to retaliatory actions against U.S. industry. Economists warn that the global trade war could cause inflation to rebound and weaken U.S. economic growth.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing agencies to study various trade issues and look at future tariffs, but he stopped short of imposing any new tariffs immediately as he had previously threatened.
Instead, he ordered U.S. officials to examine the flow of immigrants and drugs into the U.S. from Canada, China and Mexico, as well as compliance by those three countries and others with existing trade agreements with the United States.
Trump spent his first term negotiating a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico: the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). trade agreement.
He has since said he hopes to rewrite both agreements during his second term.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke last week to discuss trade, fentanyl and areas where the world’s two largest economies could cooperate.
Trump signed a broad economic deal in 2020 after imposing tariffs on China during his first term.
Relations between the two countries have frayed during the pandemic, with Trump blaming China for the outbreak and Beijing failing to fulfill many of its parts of the deal, including purchasing U.S. agricultural products.
Trump’s nominee for Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said during his confirmation hearing last week that he planned to urge his Chinese counterparts to start buying U.S. agricultural products, as the Chinese government has promised.
The Treasury nominee also said he would push his Chinese counterparts to buy more products to make up for what the country should have purchased over the past four years.