US imposes 104% tariffs on imports from China

The United States has raised tariffs on imports from China from 54% to 104%. This was announced by White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt, USA Today reports.

Duties at this rate will be levied from April 9.

Imports of Chinese goods to the United States have already been subject to a 54% tariff, a combination of a 20% preliminary tariff and 34% announced as part of a wave of reciprocal tariffs for dozens of countries.

In response, on April 3, China announced that it would impose 34% tariffs on all U.S. imports starting April 10.

According to US President Donald Trump, trade negotiations have begun with South Korea, Japan, and other countries – China is not among the 70 or so countries that have approached the US administration.

Levitt noted that Trump believes that China and Chinese leader Xi Jinping “want to make a deal” but “just don’t know how to start it.”

The day before, after Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff, China said it would “fight to the end” and take countermeasures against the United States to protect its own interests. The country’s Ministry of Commerce noted that the introduction of the so-called reciprocal tariffs against China by the United States is “completely unfounded and is a typical practice of unilateral intimidation.”

As a reminder, on April 2, the US President announced the introduction of large-scale customs tariffs against trading partners. Thus, the minimum basic tariff on imports from all countries will be 10% – it came into force on April 5 this year. In addition, starting April 9, individual reciprocal higher duties will be introduced for countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficit.