China Hits Back With Tariffs On U.S. Goods After Trump’s Tariff Hike

China has imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports in response to new American duties on Chinese goods, escalating trade tensions even as President Donald Trump granted last-minute reprieves to Mexico and Canada, Reuters reporters Trevor Hunnicutt and Kevin Huang wrote.

China’s Commerce Ministry and Customs Administration also imposed export controls on select rare earth metals critical for high-tech devices and the clean energy transition. I Photo: N509FZ Wikimedia Commons

A 10% tariff on all Chinese imports to the U.S. took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET (0501 GMT) on Tuesday, following Trump’s repeated claims that Beijing was not doing enough to curb the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.

Within minutes, China’s Finance Ministry announced countermeasures, including a 15% tariff on U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a 10% levy on crude oil, farm equipment, and certain automobiles.

Additionally, China launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alphabet Inc.'s Google and added PVH Corp.—the parent company of Calvin Klein—and U.S. biotechnology firm Illumina to its “unreliable entities list.”

China’s Commerce Ministry and Customs Administration also imposed export controls on select rare earth metals critical for high-tech devices and the clean energy transition.

Beijing’s new tariffs on targeted U.S. goods will take effect on Feb. 10, leaving a narrow window for potential negotiations between Washington and Beijing.

A White House spokesperson confirmed that Trump plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.

Meanwhile, Trump on Monday suspended his threat of 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, agreeing to a 30-day pause in exchange for concessions on border security and crime enforcement.

During his first term in 2018, Trump launched a two-year trade war against China over its trade surplus with the U.S., leading to tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods.

The prolonged dispute disrupted global supply chains and hurt the global economy. Despite Trump’s efforts, China’s imports from the U.S. did not increase significantly, raising questions about the effectiveness of his strategy.