Canada and Mexico got a one-month reprieve, but President Trump’s new 10% tariff on China went into effect Tuesday, prompting retaliation from Beijing.
China announced a 15% levy on coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural equipment and pickup trucks. It also launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Google, a search engine not allowed in China — though the move could disrupt the company’s interaction with Chinese companies.
The retaliatory measures were viewed as relatively modest. Mr. Trump might not be done punishing China and Beijing wants to keep some measures in reserve.
Mr. Trump also shrugged off Beijing’s retaliation.
“It’s fine. We’re going to do well against China and everybody else,” he said in the Oval Office.
Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on many Chinese goods during his first term. President Biden kept many of them, so the new tariffs are layered on top of those levies.
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In his second term, Mr. Trump is hitting China with an additional 10% tariff because, he says, it hasn’t done enough to crack down on precursor chemicals that are used to make fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is driving the U.S. overdose crisis.
Canada and Mexico agreed to new border and drug enforcement measures on Monday to avoid 25% tariffs on their goods for one month.
Some Trump critics said U.S. neighbors merely had committed to plans already in motion, though Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau characterized his commitment on Tuesday as a bold new move.
“Through Canada’s Border Plan, we’re deploying thousands more frontline personnel to the border, launching a precursor chemical detection unit, and building a new drug profiling center to combat the fentanyl trade,” Mr. Trudeau said Tuesday on X. “This drug trade is a global, deadly issue — and Canada is tackling it head-on.”
China’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, said Tuesday the U.S. should do some self-reflection about its drug problem.
New tariffs “cannot solve the U.S.’s problems at home and more importantly, does not benefit either side, still less the world,” the ministry said. “The U.S. needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff hikes. Additional tariffs are not constructive and bound to affect and harm the counternarcotics cooperation between the two sides in the future.”
China said it had taken steps to rein in fentanyl. It placed finished fentanyl on its schedule of banned substances in 2019, during Mr. Trump’s first term.
But U.S. officials said precursor ingredients continue to flow from China to Mexico, where cartels finish the drug and press it into counterfeit pills, killing unsuspecting Americans.
Some Democrats say Mr. Trump is more concerned about photo-ops and winning the news cycle than being strategic with tariffs.
“Tariffs are a tool to help strategically grow American industry,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat. “I’m concerned that President Trump is stumbling into a trade war that isn’t designed to protect American jobs or industry while giving corporations cover to raise prices on working families.”
But Republican allies said Mr. Trump was taking surgical steps to prevent China from undercutting U.S. companies and workers.
They pointed to Mr. Trump’s decision to revoke the use of the “de minimus” privilege on imports from China. The exception allowed Chinese companies to send low-cost products straight to individuals without paying duties on the shipments.
“I am particularly grateful to see that the de minimis privilege, which allows Chinese companies to avoid paying duties on goods under $800, has been suspended,” said Rep. Greg Murphy, North Carolina Republican. “We must ensure a fair playing field for American businesses to compete and end the abuse of our trade laws.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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