U.S. President Donald Trump has followed through on his threat and raised American tariffs on Chinese imports to 25% from 10%.
The increased tariffs impact $200 billion worth of Chinese imports into the U.S. The tariff hike comes as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He travels to Washington, D.C. for trade talks with senior American officials on Thursday and Friday.
U.S. officials have accused China of reneging on commitments made during months of negotiations to end their trade war, prompting Trump to set a new deadline to raise tariffs to 25% from 10%. However, the U.S. Trade Representative's Office has said that it will establish a process to seek exclusions for certain products from additional tariffs.
The higher tariffs will take effect at 12:01 a.m. eastern time on Friday – right in the middle of Liu's visit. President Trump has said that he would be happy to keep tariffs on Chinese imports in place, adding that China is mistaken if it hopes to negotiate trade later with a Democratic presidential administration.
The U.S. President sent global financial markets plunging earlier this week with a surprise threat to impose more penalties on Chinese imports.
