Trump says he is mulling 10% tariffs on imports from China, starting Feb. 1

U.S. President Donald Trump said he is considering 10 percent tariffs on imports from China, starting on Feb. 1, as a penalty for the flow of fentanyl, which is responsible for thousands of deaths in the U.S. annually.

"We're talking about a tariff of 10 percent on China, based on the fact that they're sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada," Trump said in his first press conference after his inauguration on Tuesday.

Trump said after his swearing-in on Monday that he is considering 25 percent tariffs on the U.S.' two North American neighbors, also to start on Feb. 1, to push them to stop shipments of the opioid from coming into the U.S., but did not mention China.

The new U.S. leader did not announce any tariffs on China on his inauguration day, despite earlier vows to do so on his first day in office. Instead, he directed federal agencies to investigate China's "unfair trade practices" as one of his priorities under his goal to "overhaul the U.S. trade system to protect American workers and families."

Trump added in the press conference that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he invited to his inauguration, "didn't talk much" about the tariffs during their call on Friday, adding that Xi knows "where I stand."

On Friday, Xi and Trump spoke by phone, marking their first call since 2020. They discussed contentious issues from trade to fentanyl, with both indicating a willingness to address strains in bilateral ties.

The U.S. has long criticized China of being responsible for the fentanyl crisis in the U.S., accusing Chinese chemical companies of producing fentanyl precursors that trade globally.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimated in a report last month that nearly 70 percent of drug overdoses in the country were caused by opioids such as fentanyl in 2023.

Trump's order on Monday to investigate China's trade practices requires an assessment of whether Beijing had acted "in accordance" with its trade agreement with the U.S., referring to a phase-one trade deal reached between the two countries in Trump's first term.

In 2018, Trump began imposing tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of imported Chinese goods and pushed Beijing to sign the agreement, which required the country to buy an additional $200 billion of American goods and services in a two-year period.

Trump often bragged that the deal was "the best" he had ever made. But after it was signed in January 2020, Beijing fell well short of the target, in part because the Covid-19 pandemic-related supply chain disruptions hampered trade.

Trump's pick to lead the Treasury, Scott Bessent, suggested in his confirmation hearing last week that Trump could use tariffs as a negotiation tactic to revive a talk on the phase-one deal with China.

Trump has threatened during his presidential campaign that the tariff on China could rise to 60 percent or more on specific products like electric vehicles. He did not indicate whether higher tariffs would apply on China since he took office.

Although Xi did not attend Trump's inauguration in-person, he sent Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng, who met U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance on Sunday.

Han told Vance in their meeting that China is willing to strengthen dialogue with the U.S. on trade, citing the "huge common interests and room for cooperation" between the two nations in this field.

Read the full story at SCMP.