Trump threatens China: More tariffs are coming on Feb. 1

President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that even more tariffs could be coming as soon as next week: This time China was his target, as Trump threatened to unleash a wave of higher taxes on imports from America’s second-biggest trading partner.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned that even more tariffs could be coming as soon as next week: This time China was his target, as Trump threatened to unleash a wave of higher taxes on imports from America’s second-biggest trading partner. In an Oval Office press conference that echoed similar off-the-cuff remarks on Monday, Trump said that he is considering a 10% across-the-board tariff on all Chinese goods starting as early as February 1. On Monday, Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada but deflected on China, noting that former President Joe Biden left in place extensive tariffs that Trump imposed during his first administration. It’s unclear what prompted such a rapid change in Trump’s tariff policy, although he had promised as much as a 60% tariff on all goods imported from China during his campaign. Trump said Tuesday that too much fentanyl is coming into the United States from China via Mexico and Canada and that the threat of tariffs could get China to crack down on the deadly drug. “I had that talk with President Xi the other day too, of China. I said, we don’t want that crap in our country. We got to stop it,” Trump said. “We’re talking about a tariff of 10% on China based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada.” Trump reiterated Tuesday a common refrain that in his first term he had a deal in place with Xi in which China agreed to impose the death penalty on drug dealers caught funneling drugs into the United States, but he said Biden failed to follow up on the proposal. Trump didn’t explicitly demand China execute convicted drug dealers as a condition of avoiding tariffs. On Monday, Trump issued an executive action that directed the secretaries of commerce and the Treasury and the United States Trade Representative to investigate the causes of America’s trade deficits with foreign nations, to determine how to build an “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs, to identify unfair trade practices and to review existing trade agreements for potential improvements. It also calls for a review of the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (the USMCA) signed by Trump in his first term and requires agencies to assess whether stricter US trade policy could successfully restrict the flow of fentanyl and the flow of undocumented migrants into the United States.