Trump Pauses Country-Specific Reciprocal Tariffs for 90 Days, Raises China Rate to 125%
On April 9, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14266, "Modifying Reciprocal Tariff Rates To Reflect Trading Partner Retaliation and Alignment," at the White House in Washington. The order suspended application of the country-specific reciprocal tariff rates set in Annex I to Executive Order 14257 for 90 days, substituting a flat additional rate of 10 percent for all Annex I trading partners during the suspension. China was excluded from the pause: its reciprocal tariff rate was raised from 84 percent to 125 percent. The country-specific rates had taken effect only that morning, April 9, and were in force for about a day before being suspended.
The immediate background was an escalating exchange between the United States and China. The executive order dated April 8, 2025 (Executive Order 14259) had already raised the reciprocal rate on Chinese goods to 84 percent. On April 9, the State Council Tariff Commission of China announced an 84 percent tariff on all goods imported into China originating from the United States, effective at 12:01 a.m. on April 10, 2025. Acting under the retaliation authority in section 4(b) of Executive Order 14257, Executive Order 14266 determined that a further increase on China was necessary and appropriate in response.
Under section 2 of the order, enforcement of the country-specific paragraph of section 3(a) of Executive Order 14257 is suspended effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on April 10, 2025, until 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on July 9, 2025. During that period, articles of Annex I trading partners are subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 10 percent, subject to the exceptions in Executive Order 14257.
Under section 3, heading 9903.01.63 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States and the related note provisions were amended by deleting "84%" and inserting "125%" and by moving the applicable date from April 9 to April 10, 2025, so goods of China, including Hong Kong and Macau, entered for consumption on or after April 10 face the additional 125 percent rate. Section 4 also raised the duties on low-value imports from China: the ad valorem rate rose from 90 percent to 120 percent, the per-postal-item duty rose from $75 to $100 for the period beginning May 2, 2025 and before June 1, 2025, and from $150 to $200 on or after June 1, 2025.
The order states that the suspension rests on section 4(c) of Executive Order 14257: since that order was signed, more than 75 other foreign trading partners, including countries listed in Annex I, had approached the United States to address the lack of trade reciprocity and U.S. national and economic security concerns, a significant step toward remedying non-reciprocal arrangements. In a post on Truth Social the same day, Trump said, in his words, that because more than 75 countries had called U.S. representatives to negotiate and had not retaliated, he had authorized a "90 day PAUSE" with a substantially lowered reciprocal tariff of 10 percent during the period, and that, based on the lack of respect China had shown to the world's markets, he was raising the tariff charged to China to 125 percent, both described by him as effective immediately; the legal effective time in the text of the order is 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on April 10, 2025, for goods entered for consumption. The order was published in the Federal Register at 90 FR 15625.
Related: Trump Signs Executive Order 14257 Imposing Reciprocal Tariffs: 10% Baseline Worldwide, 34% on China (Source: The White House)
Source: The White House
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2025年4月9日，特朗普在白宫椭圆办公室与财政部长贝森特、投资人查尔斯·施瓦布和商务部长卢特尼克合影（左起：贝森特、施瓦布、特朗普、卢特尼克）。图：白宫官方照片，公共领域，via Wikimedia Commons / Photo: President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on April 9, 2025, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, investor Charles Schwab and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Photo: The White House, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- 2025-02-01Trump Signs Orders Imposing 25% Tariffs on Canada and Mexico, 10% on China
- 2025-02-03Trump Reaches Deals With Canada and Mexico: 25% Tariffs Paused for 30 Days
- 2025-03-06Trump Adjusts Canada and Mexico Tariffs: USMCA Duty-Free Goods No Longer Subject to Added Rates
- 2025-03-26Trump Imposes 25% Tariff on Imported Automobiles and Certain Auto Parts Under Section 232
- 2025-04-02Trump Signs Executive Order 14257 Imposing Reciprocal Tariffs: 10% Baseline Worldwide, 34% on China
- 2025-04-09Trump Pauses Country-Specific Reciprocal Tariffs for 90 Days, Raises China Rate to 125%This story
- 2025-04-16California Sues Over Trump Tariffs, Saying the President Lacks Authority to Impose Them Unilaterally
