Trump Signs Executive Order 14257 Imposing Reciprocal Tariffs: 10% Baseline Worldwide, 34% on China

On April 2, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14257, "Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff To Rectify Trade Practices That Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits," at the White House in Washington. The order declared that large and persistent annual U.S. goods trade deficits constitute a national emergency and imposed additional ad valorem duties on all trading partners: a uniform 10 percent additional duty on all imports first, followed shortly thereafter by higher country-specific rates for the trading partners listed in Annex I to the order, with China set at 34 percent.

The order invokes the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act, section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, and section 301 of title 3, United States Code. It states that the U.S. goods trade deficit grew by more than 40 percent in the past five years, reaching $1.2 trillion in 2024, and it cites a U.S. simple average most-favored-nation tariff rate of 3.3 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for China, 5 percent for the European Union and 17 percent for India, presenting a lack of reciprocity, disparate tariff rates and non-tariff barriers as the conditions behind the persistent deficits.

Under section 3 of the order, the 10 percent baseline rate applies to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on April 5, 2025, with an exception for goods already loaded onto a vessel and in transit on the final mode of transit before that time. The country-specific rates in Annex I were scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on April 9, 2025: in addition to China at 34 percent, Vietnam was set at 46 percent, Cambodia at 49 percent, the European Union at 20 percent, Japan at 24 percent, India at 26 percent and Taiwan at 32 percent. The new duties are in addition to other applicable duties.

The order also sets out exceptions. Articles and derivatives of steel and aluminum, and automobiles and automotive parts, already subject to duties under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 are not subject to the order's rates, nor are the products listed in Annex II, including copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber articles, certain critical minerals, and energy and energy products. Canada and Mexico are not listed in Annex I; their goods remain governed by the earlier border-emergency orders, and the rates under this order do not stack on top of those orders.

Section 4 of the order reserves authority for later adjustments: if a trading partner retaliates, the President may further increase or expand the duties; if a trading partner takes significant steps to remedy non-reciprocal trade arrangements and aligns sufficiently with the United States on economic and national security matters, the President may decrease or limit the duties in scope. The order was published in the Federal Register on April 7, 2025, at 90 FR 15041 (Document No. 2025-06063).

Related: Trump Pauses Country-Specific Reciprocal Tariffs for 90 Days, Raises China Rate to 125% (Source: The White House)

Source: The White House

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

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