Trump’s reciprocal tariffs plan kicks in, China to see net total tariffs of 104%

[cpvr]

• President Donald Trump’s tariffs will go into effect at midnight tonight, including an expected 104% tariff on China.
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it is prepared to begin collecting country-specific tariffs from 86 U.S. trade partners starting at 12:01 a.m. ET.
• U.S. markets sold off sharply this afternoon, heading into the midnight tariff deadline.
• Tesla CEO Elon Musk is escalating his attacks on top Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro.
• The president says China “wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started.”
• Former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez says the U.S. and China are in a full blown trade war.
• Newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, testified before the Senate Finance Committee at a hearing on the president’s 2025 trade policy agenda.
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU is willing to negotiate with the U.S. on tariffs, yet is also preparing to retaliate.
• Two billionaire Trump backers, Ken Langone and Ken Griffin, are furious about the tariffs.

A new round of steeptariffs imposed by President Donald Trumptook effect early Wednesday morning on products imported from scores of countries around the world.

The round of so-called reciprocal tariffs exceeds a base rate of 10% that was imposed on many other countries over the weekend.




In all, imports from 86 countries are now subject to higher tariffs ranging from 11% to 84%.

China will see net total tariffs of 104% on its exported goods to the United States. The massive new tariff rate reflects a previously imposed 20% duty, a 34% additional tariff and a last-minute 50% increase that Trump signed late Tuesday.

“The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake,” China’s Commerce Ministry said Tuesday, according to a CNBC translation. “China will never accept it. If the U.S. insists on its own way, China will fight to the end.”

After China, Lesotho is subject to the biggest single-nation tariff rate in the new round. That African nation’s exports to the U.S. are subject to a 50% duty.

Cambodia is close behind, with imports from that nation subject to tariffs of 49% starting Wednesday.




Two of Cambodia’s neighbors in southeast Asia, Laos and Vietnam, are subject to duties of 48% and 46% respectively.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/trump-tariffs-live-updates-stock-market-china.html

 

[Katrina]

70 countries have already contacted Trump to make a deal concerning the tariffs. China knows that it owns us because the Biden administration gave them too much of our business and with that comes power. We need to get our power back and get companies to manufacture products here in the US for our future success...especially pharmaceuticals. If that means that temporarily we have to pay higher tariffs to China, then that's a tough struggle we'll endure, but will be worth it as we move things to here in the US. If there was a war between the US and China, do you really think China would still send us our pharmaceuticals we need? 90% of all antiviral and antibiotic come from China. That's absurd!

 

[Cam]

70 countries have already contacted Trump to make a deal concerning the tariffs. China knows that it owns us because the Biden administration gave them too much of our business and with that comes power. We need to get our power back and get companies to manufacture products here in the US for our future success...especially pharmaceuticals. If that means that temporarily we have to pay higher tariffs to China, then that's a tough struggle we'll endure, but will be worth it as we move things to here in the US. If there was a war between the US and China, do you really think China would still send us our pharmaceuticals we need? 90% of all antiviral and antibiotic come from China. That's absurd!

Pharmaceuticals, totally reasonable. Yes, we got caught in a mess not having a lot of drugs being manufactured here in the US during COVID. I can certainly attest to that running a CVS during that time span.

Not all manufacturing can be moved to the US though, and that's where these blanket tariffs are going to continue to be problematic. This stat doesn't surprise anyone, but 97% of shoes/clothes here in the US are manufactured outside the US. Is the thought process that Nike is just going to build factories here? That seems highly unlikely. And if they did, how much will shoes cost if we're paying people $20/hr to make shoes? When Trump did these tariffs on China last time, companies just shifted their productions. He was able to stick it to China, but it didn't bring jobs to the US. Those factories just moved to countries like Vietnam instead. I suppose how that worked out during his first presidency is another reason why he really believes in these blanket tariffs.

I don't know how much you follow everything that is going on in the news, but you'll find this is one of the few issues where there have been a lot of dissenting Republicans. Ben Shapiro being one of the big names that I've seen. I'm hopeful this is all just a negotiating tactic, and I'd say it appears that way for most of these countries. The China stuff makes me nervous though.

 

[Katrina]

Pharmaceuticals, totally reasonable. Yes, we got caught in a mess not having a lot of drugs being manufactured here in the US during COVID. I can certainly attest to that running a CVS during that time span.

Not all manufacturing can be moved to the US though, and that's where these blanket tariffs are going to continue to be problematic. This stat doesn't surprise anyone, but 97% of shoes/clothes here in the US are manufactured outside the US. Is the thought process that Nike is just going to build factories here? That seems highly unlikely. And if they did, how much will shoes cost if we're paying people $20/hr to make shoes? When Trump did these tariffs on China last time, companies just shifted their productions. He was able to stick it to China, but it didn't bring jobs to the US. Those factories just moved to countries like Vietnam instead. I suppose how that worked out during his first presidency is another reason why he really believes in these blanket tariffs.

I don't know how much you follow everything that is going on in the news, but you'll find this is one of the few issues where there have been a lot of dissenting Republicans. Ben Shapiro being one of the big names that I've seen. I'm hopeful this is all just a negotiating tactic, and I'd say it appears that way for most of these countries. The China stuff makes me nervous though.

When I was a little girl, things were made in Japan (and was junk like Chinese made products) and I remember people scoffing at anything made in Japan at some point. Then Japan caught on and turned to better quality items like electronics and vehicles.

If things go to Vietnam instead of China, who knows, maybe the quality will get better?

Trump is definitely trying to use Tariffs as a negotiating tactic. I just don't understand why some countries can tariff us, but people get mad when we do the same back to them?

 

[TPerry]

If things go to Vietnam instead of China, who knows, maybe the quality will get better?

Not everything that is shipped out of China is "cheap imports".
Phones and various other electronics (some high end) come from there also. The benefit that they have is cheap labor. I read an article where the $1000 iPhone that we have now would be around $3000 if it was made here in the United States.
Luckily I just ordered some high end astronomy equipment from a US vendor. They are now out of that equipment and have an alert to expect the next inbound shipment to be substantially more expensive. Due to the small nature of the niche, it is highly doubtful any company would want to start up mass production of them here in the US. And to build here in the US, the price of them would be substantially more.

Trump is definitely trying to use Tariffs as a negotiating tactic. I just don't understand why some countries can tariff us, but people get mad when we do the same back to them?

We do already tariff them back. What Trump appears to be getting upset about is that some of those countries have restrictions in place about what can be put into their agricultural products like hormones in beef (and the resulting diary products) and chicken and such like that and genetically altered plants products that can be sold to their citizens but is allowed for US consumption. And a lot of our agricultural products fall under those restrictions. Trump apparently thinks that other countries should have to comply with what our FDA (which they are gutting) says is OK.
A classic case of that as an issue is FD&C Red No. 3 that was finally banned here in the US.... but it has been banned in other countries for years. So a product containing it was not allowed to be sold in those countries, but was fine to let US consumers partake in (even with the negative health impacts it was known to have but was still OK to sell to the US consumer). It is those type of products that I have read of the complaining about that those countries are "being mean and not allowing to be sold".

The US also has in place restrictions of products that are allowed to be sold in other countries that are not allowed here and therefore cannot be imported. So we are no different than they are in that aspect.

And trade balance not being "equal" between countries is not the abnormal thing that this administration wants to make it out to be. And it seems more and more are starting to realize the stupidity of what is being done now and how it is impacting our citizens. The middle class is getting slammed while the rich are not having to deal with what the middle class is. I find it rather ironic how many of those that voted for this administration are starting to realize that they are not getting what they were sold and are starting to become vocal about it.

 

[zappaDPJ]

The sceptic in me wonders if there was a secondary motive behind these tariff threats. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who made gains from wildly fluctuating stock.

Regardless of that I think picking a fight with the world's second largest economy while alienating all your potential allies is taking a huge risk. The general consensus among economists is higher prices, particularly for lower-income Americans. The instability within the financial markets will also deter manufacturers from creating new plant so 'reshoring' production lines within new US factories is highly unlikely.

The only thing that can be said for sure right now is the future is filled with uncertainty.