Trump says he is considering imposing a 10% tariff on China starting February 1

President Donald Trump said his team was discussing a 10% tariff on China and that the duty could go into effect as early as February 1.

“We’re talking about a 10% tariff on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” the president told reporters at the White House on Tuesday night.

“Probably February 1 is the date we’re looking at,” he added.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is an addictive drug that causes tens of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States each year. Reducing the illegal supply of the drug, whose precursors are mainly produced in China and Mexico, has become an area in which Washington and Beijing agreed on cooperation.

Trump said on Friday that he had spoken with the Chinese president Xi Jinping by phone about fentanyl and trafficking. The message from the Chinese side says that Xi calls for cooperation and considers the economic ties between the two countries to be mutually beneficial.

There is “there are no winners” in a trade warThis was stated by Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexian at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, according to the official translation. He called for international efforts to support “economic globalization” and “spread it better.”

The offshore Chinese yuan first strengthened and then weakened to 7.2796 against the dollar.

Mainstream Chinese state and financial media did not mention the proposed Chinese tariffs, highlighting Trump’s other headlines, such as his warning about tariffs on the European Union.

The US is China’s largest single-country trading partner. China’s imports from the US fell 0.1% in dollar terms last year, while exports rose 4.9%, according to official data available through Wind Information.

The data showed China’s trade surplus with the U.S. in 2024 was $361 million, up from the $316.9 million reported for 2020, the last full year of Trump’s first term. Then the White House raised tariffs on Chinese goods in an attempt to increase imports of American goods into the country and solve the long-standing problems of American companies in China. Beijing had was responsible for his duties.

“If the US imposed an additional 10 percent tariffs on China and China responded in the same way, US GDP would fall by $55 billion during the four years of the second Trump administration, and China’s by $128 billion,” the American Institute notes. Peterson. International economy said in a January 17 report.

He made similar comments a day earlier, noting that extortion in Mexico and Canada can happen already in February.

“We’re thinking in terms of 25% (fees) from Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing a huge amount of people” across the border, he said Monday.

During the 2024 election campaign, Trump threatened to impose tariffs more than 60% on Chinese goods. Back in November, he called for “additional tariff of 10%.” about China, the message says on its social media platform Truth Social.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said which countries would be subject to the 25% levy. These are Mexico and Canada.