China sets tariff on US goods at 84%; Trump raises tariff on China to 145%
As noted by the INC last week, US President Donald Trump announced expansive new tariffs on April 2, 2025, including a baseline 10% tariff that took effect on April 5 and country-specific tariffs for around 60 countries that took effect on April 9. The White House published a fact sheet about this round of tariffs. On April 4, China announced that a 34% tariff will apply to all imports from the United States as of April 10, as reported by CNN. In response, on April 8 Trump imposed an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports, bringing the total tariffs on Chinese goods to 104%. On April 9, China raised its own tariff on US goods, bringing the total rate to 84%. Trump then announced in a social media post that the US tariff on Chinese goods would be raised to 125%, effective immediately. In the same post, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the country-specific tariffs that had been announced on April 2, bringing the rate charged on the affected countries down to the baseline rate of 10%. (Late update: The White House later clarified that the tariff Trump announced against China on April 9 were actually 145%, once his previous 20% fentanyl tariffs were included, according to the Associated Press.)
In other tariff news, on April 9, the EU Member States voted in favor of the European Commission’s proposal to introduce trade countermeasures against the US in response to the March decision by the US to impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the EU. The implementing act is expected to be published early next week. As a reminder, the package of countermeasures put forward by the Commission included reintroducing 2018 and 2020 countermeasures against the US —which include 25% duties on US peanut butter and dried cranberries— as well as a proposal to place tariffs on US almonds. The INC will inform members once the official text is published by the EU.
On April 10, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen released the following statement: “We took note of the announcement by President Trump. We want to give negotiations a chance. While finalizing the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our Member States, we will put them on hold for 90 days. If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in. Preparatory work on further countermeasures continues. As I have said before, all options remain on the table.”
Meanwhile, the UK Government has launched a public consultation inviting UK businesses to share their views on potential UK measures responding to the new US tariffs. The draft list of US products that could be targeted by UK countermeasures includes various nuts and dried fruits. The consultation closes at 11:59 pm on May 1, 2025.
Finally, Bloomberg has reported that Vietnam’s finance ministry has put forward a proposal to cut preferential import tariffs on a range of US products, including almonds, as the nation seeks to avoid the imminent threat of US tariffs.