Beijing said that the rules will be enforced from April 12.
Beijing announced on Friday it will increase tariffs on U.S. imports from 84 percent to 125 percent, in retaliation against the U.S. decision to hike duties on Chinese goods to a total of 145 percent.
The new tariff rate will come into force on Saturday, China’s Ministry of Finance announced.
The White House confirmed on April 10 that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods have risen to 145 percent, factoring in the earlier 20 percent tariffs imposed in connection with fentanyl trafficking.
A White House official told The Epoch Times that the new tariff rate on Chinese products now totals 145 percent, not 125 percent as the president stated on April 9. The executive order signed by Trump states that the reciprocal tariff rate increased overnight from 84 percent to 125 percent, which excludes the 20 percent fentanyl tariff.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had criticized China for increasing its tariffs on American goods to 84 percent, saying it would ultimately hurt China more.
“I think it’s unfortunate that the Chinese actually don’t want to come and negotiate, because they are the worst offenders in the international trading system,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network on April 9.
He said that the “proportionality for the Chinese is going to be much worse.”
“They have the most imbalanced economy in the history of the modern world, and I can tell you that this escalation is a loser for them,” he said.
He noted that China’s exports to the United States are five times greater than U.S. exports to China.
He said a good step for the Chinese would be “acknowledging that the precursor chemicals for fentanyl come from China.”
When asked if he was prepared to remove Chinese stocks from U.S. exchanges, Bessent said that “everything is on the table.”
“The U.S. is trying to rebalance toward more manufacturing. China needs to rebalance towards more consumption,” he said.
In an April 9 social media post, Trump accused China of “ripping off’ the United States and other countries as part of his reasoning for imposing massive tariff hikes on the Chinese communist regime.
“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,” he said.
