Press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent break down President Donald Trump’s latest tariff changes, including increased tariffs on China and a 90-day pause on others.
The tariff tit-for-tat between the U.S. and China escalated again Wednesday, with President Donald Trump saying that he is immediately raising the tariffs on Chinese goods to 125% over Beijing’s “lack of respect” toward America, while pausing and lowering reciprocal tariffs on other countries.
“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform.
Trump wrote that more than 75 other countries have called U.S. representatives to “negotiate a solution” to the subjects relative to trade, trade barriers, tariffs, currency manipulation, and non-monetary tariffs. He added that these countries, “at my strong suggestion,” have not retaliated in any way against America.
Trump wrote that his reciprocal tariffs on other countries would be paused for 90 days, during which the tariff rate would be 10%.
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U.S. President Donald Trump attends the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., April 8, 2025. (REUTERS/Nathan Howard / Reuters)
Trump’s move comes just hours after China announced it was increasing its reciprocal tariff on U.S. goods from 34% to 84%.
China’s escalation came after Trump’s tariff went into effect shortly after midnight Wednesday, which imposed a 104% tariff on Chinese goods to the U.S.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick posted on X that the world – except China – is ready to work with Trump on trade.
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“Scott Bessent and I sat with the President while he wrote one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency,” Lutnick wrote. “The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction.”
Among Trump’s tariffs that went into effect early Wednesday also included a 20% tariff on products from the European Union, 24% on Japan and 25% on South Korea.
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Earlier Wednesday, the European Union announced the approval of retaliatory tariffs on $23 billion in U.S. goods as “countermeasures” to Trump’s tariffs, though it said the 27-country bloc remained open to dropping the tariffs “should the US agree to a fair and balanced negotiated outcome.”
