U.S. tariffs on China increased to 125%

On April 10 Beijing time, citing "reciprocal tariffs," the United States doubled the tariff on China to 125% (base rate 20% + reciprocal duty 34% + punitive duty 50%). It claims to be aimed at correcting the trade deficit, but the actual tax rate varies significantly depending on the type of goods, reaching 104% for semiconductors, photovoltaic modules, etc. At the same time, the "mutual assistance tariff" was suspended for 90 days against 75 countries that had not retaliated, and the rate was reduced to 10%. As a countermeasure, China raised the tariff from 34% to 84% on imported goods from the United States from 12:01 on the same day in accordance with the Tariff Law and other laws. Covering 73% of the categories of U.S. exports to China, including key areas such as soybeans and semiconductor equipment, while also suing the U.S. through the WTO and promoting multilateral frameworks such as RCEP and DEPA to deal with it.

On April 9, global stock markets lost $5.4 trillion and the dollar index fell to 95.2; U.S. exports to China fell 18 percent year-on-year, but China's exports to ASEAN grew 24 percent as supply chains accelerated toward Southeast Asia. The WTO predicts that global merchandise trade volume may shrink by 1% in 2025, resulting in a loss of about 1.2 trillion US dollars. Multinational enterprises accelerated the "China + 1" strategy, with Vietnam, Mexico and other countries taking on the capacity transfer but facing US "countervailing tariffs."

The Peterson Institute calculates that the China duties add $1,300 to the average annual spending of American households, pushing up inflation by half a percentage point. Midwestern farmers saw their incomes fall by 18-25 percent, and tech companies saw costs rise by 50 percent. In 2024, China's trade dependence with the United States will decrease to 8.2%, the import and export value of cross-border e-commerce will reach 2.63 trillion yuan, the domestic semiconductor production rate will increase to 28%, and domestic demand will contribute more than 75% to economic growth.

Twelve economies, including the European Union and Canada, have imposed retaliatory tariffs on $320 billion of goods; The United Nations, the WTO and other countries called for dialogue between China and the United States to resolve differences and avoid a "lose-lose" outcome. At present, the reconstruction of global trade rules is accelerating, the number of regional trade agreement negotiations has increased by 47% year on year, and the demand for multilateral cooperation is prominent. There is no winner in a trade war, and multilateral cooperation is the fundamental way to solve global economic problems. United Nations Secretary-General Guterres pointed out that in this context, China and the United States need to show strategic restraint, avoid politicizing economic and trade issues, and jointly safeguard the stability of global industrial and supply chains.