U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a 100% tariff on all Chinese imports in response to China’s planned export controls on rare earth minerals, reigniting the ongoing trade conflict between the two economic giants.
Trump also suggested that these tariffs could be enforced sooner depending on further actions from China.
In a statement, Trump revealed that the new tariffs would take effect on November 1, 2025, alongside U.S. export controls on "any and all critical software." The move marks a dramatic escalation in the trade war that had, until recently, been at a standstill after months of a truce that kept tariffs unchanged.
“It’s impossible to believe China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is history,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday.
This new tariff would be in addition to the current 30% duties already imposed on Chinese goods, bringing the total tariff rate on imports from China to 130%.
China, the world's leading producer of rare earths, announced on Thursday that it would expand its export restrictions to include five additional elements, as well as various refining technologies. Furthermore, new regulations will require foreign producers of rare earths to comply with Chinese rules if they use Chinese materials in their production.
Trump suggested that the tariffs could be lifted if China withdraws its export controls. “We’re going to have to see what happens,” he said. “That’s why I made it Nov. 1.”
Rare earth minerals are essential in the production of microchips and semiconductors, which power advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and electronics.
Earlier on Fridday, Trump had warned of the impending tariffs, which caused a sharp decline in U.S. stock markets. He accused China of taking an "extraordinarily aggressive position on trade," claiming that countries worldwide had received notifications about China’s plans to impose sweeping export controls on rare earth elements, which he described as a “sinister and hostile move.”
“This affects ALL countries, without exception, and was obviously a plan devised by them years ago,” Trump said. “It is absolutely unheard of in international trade, and a moral disgrace in dealing with other nations.”
Trump has imposed broad tariffs on imports from numerous countries during his second term, with China initially bearing the brunt of the steepest duties. In August, the U.S. and China had agreed to a second 90-day extension of a tariff truce, preventing duties on each other’s goods from escalating to triple digits. The truce had maintained a 30% tariff on Chinese imports and a 10% tariff on U.S. imports to China.
Trump also indicated that he might cancel a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month. “I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so,” he wrote.
Despite the recent thaw in U.S.-China relations, Trump expressed surprise at China's decision to impose new export restrictions, describing it as an unexpected and hostile trade move. “Our relationship with China over the past six months has been a very good one, thereby making this move on trade an even more surprising one,” he wrote. “I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right!”
