Will Trump again increase tariffs on Chinese goods if US-China fail to make a deal? Check details

President Donald Trump Monday said he does not anticipate U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports will rise back to 145% after the current 90-day pause ends. He expressed confidence that Washington and Beijing will reach a deal.

However, Trump also noted that tariffs on Chinese goods could still be raised significantly if an agreement is not achieved. President Donald Trump says he will likely speak with China’s leader Xi Jinping “maybe at the end of the week.”

That’s after negotiators from the U.S. and China meeting in Switzerland this weekend agreed to reduce tariffs for 90 days of talks. The import taxes on China imposed by the U.S. would still remain higher than when Trump took office at 30%.


Trump told reporters on Monday that the reduced tariff rates didn’t include tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum as well as the potentially upcoming import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs. Trump said repeatedly that Beijing wants to make a deal "very badly" and avoid a return to the worst of the US-China trade war.

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US-China tariff deal

The US and China announced Monday an agreement to drastically reduce tit-for-tat tariffs for 90 days, an outcome President Donald Trump dubbed a "total reset" as he said a call with counterpart Xi Jinping could soon follow.

After the first talks between Washington and Beijing since Trump launched his trade war, the world's two biggest economies agreed in a joint statement to bring their triple-digit tariffs down to two figures and continue negotiations.

The announcement sent financial markets soaring after weeks of turmoil over tariff fears, with major Wall Street indexes surging.

"Yesterday we achieved a total reset with China after productive talks in Geneva," Trump said. "I'll speak to President Xi, maybe at the end of the week."

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Trump's fresh duties on many imports from China came up to 145 percent this year, compared to 10 percent for other countries in a global tariff blitz launched last month. Beijing hit back with duties of 125 percent on US goods.

The United States agreed to lower its tariffs on Chinese goods to 30 percent while China will reduce its own to 10 percent.

The US additional tariff rate remains higher than China's because it includes a 20 percent levy over Trump's complaints about Chinese exports of chemicals used to make fentanyl, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told reporters.

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"Those remain unchanged for now," he said. But "both the Chinese and United States agreed to work constructively together on fentanyl and there is a positive path forward there as well."

Trump's tariffs and high rates targeting China have rocked financial markets, raising fears the levies would rekindle inflation and cause a global economic downturn. The Geneva meeting came days after Trump unveiled a trade agreement with Britain, the first with any country since his new duties on both friend and foe.