Trump Administration Imposes Up To 245% Tariff On Chinese Imports Amid Intensifying Trade Battle

Amid the ongoing tariff dispute between the U.S. and China, a White House fact sheet has revealed that President Donald Trump‘s administration has raised tariffs on Chinese imports by up to 245%.What Happened: According to a fact sheet released by the White House late Tuesday, “China now faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the United States as a result of its retaliatory actions.”Tariff Timeline:The tariff war started with President Trump imposing a 20% tariff on China after he took office, a 34% levy on April 2nd, and an additional 50% duty in response to China’s retaliatory threats, dramatically heightening the initial tariffs to 104%.China responded to this by increasing its tariffs by 84%. Trump later hiked the 104% to 125% “based on the lack of respect” from China, according to him.Eventually, last week on Friday, China too raised its levies on U.S. imports to 125%, while U.S. tariffs on China stood at 145%.However, in the latest White House fact sheet, which focuses on the tariffs on foreign critical minerals and their derivative products, Trump also announced a blanket tariff hike of 245% on Chinese imports.The tariffs on critical minerals and their derivative products were levied to protect the U.S. defense capabilities, infrastructure development, and technological innovation, as per the fact sheet.Why It Matters: China is one of the major exporters to the U.S. According to a recent report by Reuters, no other country comes close to matching China’s sales of more than $400 billion in goods to the U.S. each year.While the other countries are in the process of negotiating lower tariffs during the 90-day pause, the battle between China and the U.S. is heating up.Ahead of the 245% hike on Tuesday, the New York Times report broke down the China tariffs on various products imported into the U.S.According to that report, the imports of syringes and needles had the highest tariff rate of 245%, followed by lithium-ion batteries of 173%, squid with 170%, wool sweaters with 169%, and 159% on plastic dishes. While these were the top five tariffed products, the children’s books had 0% tariff, being the lowest tariffed products.Price Action: The CSI 300 Index was trading 0.70% lower as of the publication of this article, whereas the futures on Dow Jones dropped by 0.47%, the S&P 500 futures were lower by 1.03%, and the Nasdaq 100 declined 1.69% on Wednesday.The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, ended on a mixed note on Tuesday. The SPY was up 0.28% to $537.61, while the QQQ advanced 0.11% to $457.99, according to Benzinga Pro data.