Ultimatum expired
Trump increases China tariffs to 104 percent from Wednesday
04/08/2025 – 9:18 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Donald Trump continues to escalate the trade conflict with China. After a passed deadline, more than a hundred percent of punitive tariffs are to be due from Wednesday.
The White House excluded exposure to the measures shortly before the new tariffs come into force. US President Donald Trump does not think of an extension or delay in the tariffs, spokeswoman Weißen Haus, Karoline Leavitt, said on a question.
The tariffs would come into force on Wednesday night at 0:01 a.m. local time (6.01 European times), said Leavitt. She just talked to Trump about it.
Then additional US tariffs also use Chinese products. US President Donald Trump had given the Chinese leadership a last period to take back the counter-tariffs on imports of US goods to the People’s Republic of 34 percent. This period had China spread. Now the white house reacts with punitive tariffs of another 50 percent. Overall, the tax on goods from China is then 104 percent.
President Trump believes that China wants to conclude an agreement with the United States. It was a mistake that China had taken retribution measures, said Leavitt, “because when America is beaten, it is harder back”. But the president believe that China is making an agreement. Beijing just doesn’t know how to do it.
“And the president also wanted me to tell them all that he will be incredibly gracious when China extends his hand to make an agreement, but he will do what the best for the American people is,” said Leavitt. Trump had previously stated that he was waiting for a call from China.
China, on the other hand, switched on the world trade organization (WTO) in the customs dispute with the United States. With the special tariffs in Chinese goods, the United States would violate its free trade obligations and “undermine the multilateral trading system based on rules,” said Beijing in a letter to WTO in Geneva.
The US supplement to imports from China are “discriminatory and protected,” the letter said. In it, China called for the United States for bilateral conversations to settle the trade dispute. This first step usually leads to a procedure in front of the WTO, in which mediators decide whether trade measures are justified or not.
However, the United States has been blocking new WTO professions for years. That is why procedures hang in the air for unlimited time. Previously, Canada had also registered consultations with Washington in the customs dispute with the USA.
