Trump Pauses Some Tariffs But Hits Fast-Forward for China
Trump told reporters about his tariff pause during a White House event Wednesday with racing champions
Photographer: Chris Kleponis/CNPThis is Washington Edition, the newsletter about money, power and politics in the nation’s capital. Today, White House editor Jordan Fabian looks at the latest twists in President Trump’s trade war. Sign up here and follow us at @bpolitics. Email our editors here.
Donald Trump just hit the pause button on his trade war with dozens of countries. For China, it was more like fast-forward.
The president announced a 90-day halt on the so-called reciprocal tariffs — the duties above 10% that he’d imposed on more than 50 nations, plus the European Union, that were deemed by his administration to be bad trade actors. Those rates only went into effect hours earlier. Now they’re on hold, and everyone will pay the 10% baseline rate.
Except China — which is increasingly coming into focus as the chief trade-war target. Trump raised the duty on Chinese imports to 125%, the third hike in a week, Skylar Woodhouse and Josh Wingrove report. Beijing is being punished, the president posted on social media, because it’s been retaliating with its own tariffs on the US and thus showing a “lack of respect” for the world’s markets — while other countries “have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form.”