The Trump administration will impose a 104 percent tariff rate on China at 12:01 a.m. on April 9.
President Donald Trump has threatened to implement an additional 50 percent levy on the Chinese regime if it failed to reverse its 34 percent retaliatory tariff on U.S. goods.
Speaking to reporters at a press briefing on April 8, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the president’s higher levies will take effect tonight.
“It was a mistake for China to retaliate to the president. When America is punched, he punches back harder,” Leavitt said. “That’s why there will be 104 percent tariffs going into effect on China tonight at midnight.”
She said if Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials contact the White House to discuss trade, Trump is prepared to talk.
“He'll be incredibly gracious, but he’s going to do what’s best for the American people,” Leavitt said, stopping short of providing details on what Beijing could do to stop the tariffs from taking effect.
Beijing has vowed to keep its retaliatory measures.
So far, Trump has imposed 20 percent tariffs on China over illegal drug exports and a 34 percent reciprocal levy.
Echoing senior administration officials, Leavitt noted that countries like China that have decided to retaliate and “double down on their mistreatment of American workers are making a mistake.”
“President Trump has a spine of steel, and he will not break, and America will not break,” she said.
‘Big Mistake’
In an interview with CNBC on April 8, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China was making a “big mistake” in escalating its retaliatory measures against U.S. tariffs.“I think it was a big mistake, this Chinese escalation because they are paying with a pair of twos,” Bessent said, using a poker analogy. “What do we lose by the Chinese raising tariffs on us? We export one-fifth to them of what they export to us.”
Speaking to reporters over the weekend, Trump stated that he is not interested in making a deal with China unless the trillion-dollar trade gap is resolved.
“When you look at the trade deficit that we have with certain countries, way over a billion per country, with China it’s a trillion dollars,” he said. “I’m willing to deal with China, but they have to solve their surplus. We have a tremendous deficit problem with China.”
According to data from the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. goods trade deficit with China was more than $295 billion last year, the highest among other trading partners. This was also up 5.8 percent from the previous year.
The world’s largest economy imported almost $440 billion in various goods, including Apple iPhones, televisions, clothes, and other products from China.
Conversely, U.S. exports to China were slightly below $200 billion, with services, crude oil, and soybeans at the top of the list.
While some economists have questioned Trump’s claim that the United States is losing $1 trillion a year in trade to China, other experts say that the White House could be referencing transshipping and other non-monetary trade barriers.
The Chinese regime employs transshipping as a strategy to avert tariffs by relying on third-party destinations, such as Cambodia and Vietnam, for its exports.
The White House has said that as many as 70 countries have reached out to the United States to discuss tariffs. In addition, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett confirmed in an April 8 Fox News interview that Japan and South Korea have been prioritized in trade negotiations.
“In the end, the president, of course, is going to be the one who decides whether the deal is good enough to change his mind about the tariffs,” Hassett said.
Overall, the United States registered a $1.2 trillion trade deficit in 2024.
