President Trump is raising tariffs on Chinese imports yet again, pushing the cumulative rate on goods from Beijing to 20%. The move adds a fresh layer of cost pressure to an already strained trade corridor between the world’s two largest economies.
The new levy comes on top of existing duties that had already been climbing throughout 2025, part of a broader strategy to reshape US trade relationships through aggressive tariff policy.
A rollercoaster year for trade policy
At one point earlier in the year, tariffs on Chinese goods spiked to as high as 145% during a particularly heated stretch of trade tensions. A truce reached in November 2025 helped stabilize rates closer to the 20% mark. The average weighted tariff on Chinese goods sat at approximately 23.1% as of mid-2026, with effective paid rates landing around 21.6%.
In February 2026, the Supreme Court struck down broad tariffs that had been imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). That ruling forced the administration to recalibrate its approach, essentially rebuilding parts of the tariff framework from scratch using different legal authorities.
