Trump turns up heat on China with fresh tariffs, export curbs

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was raising tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. to 100 percent and imposing export controls on "any and all critical software" in a reprisal to recently announced export limits by China.

"Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and speaking only for the U.S.A., and not other Nations who were similarly threatened, starting November 1, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100 percent on China, over and above any tariff that they are currently paying," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "Also on November 1, we will impose export controls on any and all critical software."

An earlier post from Trump on Friday signaled new levies against Chinese goods were in the offing, which sent markets and relations between the world's largest economies into a spiral.

China and the U.S. had been in a trade truce after imposing steep tariffs on each other, later agreeing to a 90-day pause that reduced U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 percent to 30 percent and Chinese tariffs on American products from 125 percent to 10 percent. The truce has since been extended twice, with the latest extension reached on August 11.

Nonetheless, the U.S. has also been seeking to limit its access to advanced semiconductors, critical for powering artificial intelligence models and applications. Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on China called for broader bans by the U.S. and its allies on chipmaking tool sales to China, rather than narrower bans on sales to specific Chinese chipmakers, in what appears to be a more sweeping and aggressive move to curb China's progress in cutting-edge AI and semiconductor industries.

Beijing has long called for Washington to abandon unilateral trade restrictions it says undermine global commerce.