China retaliated Friday against higher U.S. tariffs by slapping 125% levies on U.S. goods, up from the previous 84%, amid an escalating trade war.
While President Donald Trump recently dropped tariffs under his new trade plan to 10% on imports from most countries for 90 days, he raised tariffs on China twice, and they now total 145%.
Officials in China said the new tariffs on U.S. imports will begin Saturday but the country would not add additional levies in the future.
“Given that at the current tariff level, U.S. exports to China are no longer commercially viable, China will not respond to any further tariff hikes by the U.S. on Chinese goods,” China’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement to the media on Friday.
The Trump administration unveiled a broad “reciprocal” tariff plan for all U.S. trade partners April 2, including a baseline 10% tariff on trade partners, as well as 25% tariffs on certain imported vehicles and auto parts arriving into the U.S.
The wide-ranging reciprocal tariff policy went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, including varying levies on imports from about 90 U.S. trading partners.
The tariff plan included 20% on the European Union, 10% on the United Kingdom, 34% on China, 24% on Japan and 32% on Taiwan.
A few hours after the reciprocal tariffs went into effect, Trump announced he was pausing the higher tariffs, but leaving the 10% baseline levies intact for all countries, except for the higher tariffs on China.
Trump had already raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 104% on Wednesday, and after China responded with a hike of its own on U.S. goods to 84%, Trump increased the tariff rate on Chinese imports to 125%, then hours later to 145%.
Despite ongoing trade tensions between China and the U.S., the country remains one of the largest annual U.S. trade partners. China was the third-biggest U.S. trading partner in 2024 at $582 billion in two-way commerce, behind Mexico and Canada.
Key U.S. exports to China include oil, gas, aircraft, pharmaceutical products and cars.
China is also one of the largest importers of U.S. agricultural goods, including soybeans, corn, wheat, beef, pork and cotton.
China imported $27.5 billion worth of agricultural products from the U.S. in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Officials at the American Soybean Association said they were pleased with the Trump administration’s tariff rate pause but worried about the escalation in levies with China.
“The continued escalation of tariffs with China is concerning to soybean farmers, as China serves as a critical export market for U.S. soy,” the American Soybean Association said in a news release on Wednesday.
“We run the risk of immediate impacts this growing season, along with the impacts a prolonged trade war with China will inflict on our industry once again. The short-term disruptions are painful, but the long-term repercussions to our reputation, our reliability as a supplier, and the stability of those trading relationships are hard to even put into words,” Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association and a Kentucky soybean farmer, said in a statement.
“We ask the administration and China both to press pause with one another, as well, and pursue a Phase 2 trade agreement that will address U.S. trade concerns in a constructive way while preserving the markets we rely on.”
Related: EU delays US tariffs for 90 days following Trump’s pause
