Trump suspends "retaliatory" tariffs for 90 days, raises tariff rate on China to 145 percent

On April 9, President Trump announced a 90-day moratorium on the comprehensive "reciprocal" tariffs announced on April 2, citing the general willingness of most trading partners to negotiate and no retaliatory action, but he maintained the 10 percent universal tariff that took effect on April 5. However, China's tariff rate will increase from 104 percent to 125 percent. Trump said in a post on Truth Social shortly after 1 pm ET on April 9 that the move was justified because of a lack of respect. "At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of exploiting the United States and other countries are no longer sustainable or acceptable," the president said." On March 10, the White House revised the total tariffs on China to 145 percent to reflect the 20 percent tariffs imposed earlier over China's alleged role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis.

Shortly before Trump's announcement on May 9, China's Ministry of Finance announced that it would increase tariffs on goods imported from the United States from 34 percent to 84 percent from April 10. The move is in retaliation for a 104 percent tariff on Chinese goods imposed by the United States on April 9. The move led to a general sell-off in financial markets and a plunge in the prices of commodities such as crude oil, natural gas and metals. China's Ministry of Finance said in a statement earlier today: "The US escalation of tariffs on China has added to its mistakes, seriously violated China's legitimate rights and interests, seriously undermined the rules-based multilateral trading system, and seriously affected the stability of the global economic order. It is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying." "China urges the US to immediately correct its wrong practices, cancel all unilateral tariff measures against China, and properly resolve differences with China through equal dialogue on the basis of mutual respect."

china's State Council said that China is willing to hold consultations with the US government, and pointed out that if the situation further deteriorates, China is also ready to take countermeasures. the newspaper also pointed out that china is the largest export market for us soybeans and cotton, the second largest export market for integrated circuits and coal, and the third largest export market for liquefied petroleum gas, medical devices, and automobiles.

A White House spokesman told S & P Global Commodity Insights's Platts Energy Information that the "fentanyl tariff" on Canada and Mexico remains unchanged at 25 percent, except for energy and potash, where the tax rate is 10 percent. Both countries are exempt from the 10 percent tariff package imposed on April 5.

The White House also said that although EU member states have approved a proposal by the European Commission to implement trade countermeasures from April 15 in response to the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed by the United States in March, the EU will only be bound by the 10% benchmark rate because the retaliatory tariffs have not yet taken effect.