During his speech on Wednesday outlining new tariffs for America’s trading partners, President Donald Trump took direct aim at China with pointed criticism.
“I have great respect for President Xi [Jinping] and for China,” Trump said during his nearly hour-long address. “But they were taking tremendous advantage of us.”
Holding up a chart displaying tariff rates imposed on U.S. exports, Trump pointed to China. “If you look at that—first row—67%. That’s the tariffs charged to the USA, along with currency manipulation and trade barriers.”
Trump went on to announce a new tariff: “We are going to be charging a discounted reciprocal tariff of 34%,” he said. “In other words, they charge us, we charge them—only less. So how can anybody complain about that?”
China responded swiftly. The country’s Ministry of Commerce condemned the move as “a typical act of unilateral bullying” and vowed to take “resolute countermeasures to safeguard its rights and interests.”
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency also weighed in, accusing Trump of “reducing trade to a simplistic tit-for-tat contest.”
Experts say Beijing has valid reasons to be alarmed. For one, this latest tariff hike is on top of the 20% already imposed on Chinese goods since Trump returned to office in January. The new measures bring that total to 54%, excluding certain items like automobiles, steel, and aluminum, which will face lower tariffs.
Additionally, the administration extended tariffs to Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos—regions Chinese firms had been using to reroute supply chains in order to dodge U.S. duties. The new rules effectively block those workarounds.
Five of the ten countries hit with the highest tariff rates were from Asia, signaling a broader clampdown in the region.
The tariffs aren’t the only hit to Chinese commerce. Earlier Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order ending a provision that had allowed Chinese retailers like Shein and Temu to ship low-value packages (under $800) to U.S. customers without taxes or inspections. Nearly 1.4 billion packages entered the U.S. under that exemption in the last fiscal year, according to customs data.
Scrapping the provision could force Chinese firms to absorb higher costs—or pass them along to American consumers—making their products more expensive and potentially less competitive in the U.S. market.