In an Executive order issued yesterday, President Trump again increased tariffs on United States-bound imports from China.

The rationale for the increase, as noted in the Executive Order, is due to retaliatory actions taken by China in response to tariffs placed on it by the U.S.

“China faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the United States as a result of its retaliatory actions,” the Executive Order stated. “This includes a 125% reciprocal tariff, a 20% tariff to address the fentanyl crisis, and Section 301 tariffs on specific goods, between 7.5% and 100%.”

This development comes on the heels of a 90-day pause of the reciprocal tariffs announced by the White House on April 2, in which President Trump said that there will be a minimum across-the-board baseline 10% reciprocal tariff placed on U.S. trading partners importing goods into the U.S., with the exception of goods which are compliant with the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada) agreement, and non-compliant goods, as previously announced, will continue to be charged 25%. The 10% tariff was set to take effect at 12:01 AM ET on Saturday, April 5.

In addition to the 10% baseline tariff, the President said that the U.S. will implement tariffs on nearly 60 U.S. trading partners ranging between 10%-to-50%, and calculated at half the rate foreign nations impose on U.S. exports. As an example, he stated China would pay 34% (on top of 20% tariffs already in place at that time), the European Union would pay 20%, Taiwan paying 32%, Vietnam paying 46%, and Japan paying 46%, among others.

That was followed by an Executive Order issued on April 8 in response to the State Council Tariff Commission of the People’s Republic of China planning to levy a 34% tariff on all goods imported into China from the U.S., which took effect at 12:01 AM ET on April 10. Which stated that the U.S. will counter that and increase the 54% tariff it had placed on goods from China into the U.S., by another 50%, increasing the cumulative tariff to 104%.

And on April 9 China subsequently came back at the U.S., in retaliation, introducing an additional 50% tariff on U.S. goods imported into China, bringing the total tariff to 84%, and now in effect.

That prompted President Trump to subsequently increase the previously-announced 104% tariff on China to 125%. The White House subsequently clarified that the total tariff the U.S. was placing on China was 145%, which is comprised of the aforementioned 125% tariff, in addition to a previous 20% issued earlier. 

But the aforementioned reciprocal tariffs were paused for 90 days by President Trump one week after they had been announced on April 2, to July 9.

“Based on the fact that more than 75 countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.”

Drivers for the tariff measures previously cited by the White House include addressing U.S. trade imbalances, pushing for increased domestic manufacturing, and stemming the flow of fentanyl across U.S. borders from Canada and Mexico.