United States President Donald Trump announced 34 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports on Wednesday, unveiling them as part of a sweeping “Liberation Day” package aimed at reshaping American trade policy.
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said “we’re going to be charging a discounted reciprocal tariff of 34 per cent”.
At the event, held in the Rose Garden, Trump held up a chart listing numerous US trading partners and the tariffs he said they charged the US.
The calculations, he said, reflected “a combined rate of all their tariffs, non monetary barriers and other forms of cheating”.
Trump said that he would charge other countries about half as much as they charged the US.
China, he said, charged tariffs of 67 per cent to the US, noting that the figure included currency manipulation and trade barriers.
The tariffs, which reflect a 10 per cent universal baseline plus 24 per cent specific to China, would take effect on Thursday, the president said.