OAN Staff James Meyers
3:24 PM – Tuesday, February 4, 2025
The Trump administration put in place new tariffs on China on Tuesday in an effort to help stop the flow of Fentanyl coming into America, with Beijing responding by announcing its own tax against U.S. imports.
The tariff, which is an additional tariff of 10% on imported Chinese goods went into effect at 12:01 a.m., hours after the leaders of Canada and Mexico both were able to reach a 30-day pause on the implementation of massive, 25% duties on goods bound for the United States.
This also comes after the 47th president declared last week that the fentanyl crisis in America constituted a “national emergency” and that he would use his authorities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose additional tariffs on China.
The overall objective is to force Chinese officials to stop the flow of precursor chemicals from China to cartels that use fentanyl to create drugs to be crossed in the United States.
“Access to the American market is a privilege,” read a White House statement on the tariff announcement, arguing that import taxes are a “powerful, proven source of leverage for protecting the national interest.”
“President Trump is using the tools at hand and taking decisive action that puts Americans’ safety and our national security first.”
However, just after the latest tariffs went into effect against China, Beijing’s commerce ministry said the country would implement a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas imported from the U.S.
Also, there will be an additional 10% tax on crude oil, large-displacement cars and agricultural machinery from the States.
Those tariffs by China will go into effect next Monday, Chinese officials announced.
China has also been accused by multiple Republican congressional lawmakers of deliberately exporting fentanyl to undermine the U.S.
Fentanyl is mainly produced in China and it is smuggled over U.S. land borders, as well as international shipping and mail systems to Mexico and other countries.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fentanyl has killed at least 281,000 Americans over the last four years.
China is the U.S.’ top trading partner for imports, using 16.5% in 2022, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. However, the communist country has argued that they have been stronger on fentanyl and Trump’s new tariffs violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
“China is one of the world’s toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation. Fentanyl is an issue for the U.S. [sic],” read a statement from China’s foreign ministry issued Sunday.
“The U.S. [sic] needs to view and solve its own fentanyl issue in an objective and rational way instead of threatening other countries with arbitrary tariff hikes,” the statement continued, demanding that the Trump administration “promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. [sic] relationship.”
The White House insists that the new tariffs are not aimed at getting into a trade war with China.
“President Trump was absolutely 100% clear that this is not a trade war,” White House National Economic Council Kevin Hassett said Monday. “This is a drug war.”
The 47th president warned that more import taxes could be imposed on China in the near future.
“If we can’t make a deal with China, then the tariffs will be very, very substantial,” the president said Monday.
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