Trump adds 100% tariff on China, critical software export controls
US President Donald Trump points his finger while speaking at a roundtable discussion on “Antifa”, an anti-fascist movement he has designated by executive order as a domestic “terrorist organization”, on September 22 at the White House in Washington DC, USA, on October 8, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The United States will impose new 100% tariffs on imports from China starting Nov. 1 “beyond the tariffs they currently pay,” President Donald Trump said Friday.
Trump also said the US would impose export controls on “all types of critical software” on the same date.
The president’s announcement came just hours after China threatened a “major increase” in tariffs on Chinese imports in retaliation for new controls it imposed on exports of rare earth minerals from that country.
Around70% of global supply of rare earth minerals It comes from China. Minerals are essential for high-tech industries including automobiles, defense and semiconductors.
Trump suggested early Friday that he would cancel an upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Peak in South Korea due to China’s new controls.
Almost every product imported from China to the United States already faces high tariffs. While there are different levels of specific taxes on imports, from 50% on steel and aluminum to 7.5% on consumer goods, the so-called effective duty rate on Chinese imports is currently 40%, according to analysts at Wells Fargo Economics and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
“It has become known that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressive position on Trade, sending an extremely hostile letter to the World stating that, effective November 1, 2025, they will impose large-scale Export Controls on virtually every product they produce, and even some that they do not produce themselves,” Trump wrote. A Real Social post on Friday.
“This affects ALL Countries without exception and was frankly a plan devised by them years ago. This is absolutely unheard of in International Trade and a moral disgrace in relations with other Nations,” Trump wrote.
“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and speaking only on behalf of the United States and not other similarly threatened countries, beginning November 1, 2025 (or sooner depending on steps or changes taken by China) the United States will impose a 100% Tariff on China beyond any Tariffs they currently pay,” he wrote.
“We will also impose Export Controls on all critical software on November 1.”
China Ministry of Commerce It said on Thursday that from Dec. 1, foreign entities must have a license to export products containing more than 0.1% rare earths sourced from this country or manufactured using Chinese extraction, refining, magnet-making or recycling technology.
