By Gavin Bade, Lingling Wei, Josh Dawsey and Alex Leary
The Trump administration is considering slashing its steep tariffs on Chinese imports—in some cases by more than half—in a bid to de-escalate tensions with Beijing that have roiled global trade and investment, according to people familiar with the matter.
President Trump hasn’t made a final determination, the people said, adding that the discussions remain fluid and several options are on the table. One administration official said Trump wouldn’t act unilaterally and would need to see some action from Beijing to lower tariffs.
One senior White House official said the China tariffs were likely to come down to between roughly 50% and 65%. The administration is also considering a tiered approach similar to the one proposed by the House committee on China late last year: 35% levies for items the U.S. deems not a threat to national security, and at least 100% for items deemed as strategic to America’s interest, some of the people said. The bill proposed phasing in those levies over five years.
“President Trump has been clear: China needs to make a deal with the United States of America. When decisions on tariffs are made, they will come directly from the president. Anything else is just pure speculation,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said.
Later on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that Trump hasn’t offered to take down U.S. tariffs on China on a unilateral basis, Bloomberg News reported.
Trump said Tuesday that he was willing to cut tariffs on Chinese goods and that the 145% tariffs he imposed on China during his second term would come down. “But it won’t be zero,” he said. The development was welcome news to investors who had been spooked by the White House’s aggressive moves in recent weeks.
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