Key Points
- U.S. President Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on China for buying Russian oil.
- The threat comes just days after the U.S. doubled tariffs on India for the same reason.
- A top White House adviser downplayed the threat, fearing it could hurt the U.S. economy.
- The new threat complicates the recent progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump is now threatening to hit China with more tariffs, a move aimed at punishing Beijing for buying Russian oil. The threat came just after he doubled tariffs on India for the very same reason.
When a reporter asked on Wednesday if China was next, Trump said it “may happen.” He added, “We did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China.”
But one of Trump’s top trade advisers, Peter Navarro, quickly poured cold water on the idea. He suggested that punishing China further is unlikely because it could backfire and harm the U.S. economy.
Navarro pointed out that the U.S. already has tariffs of over 50% on many Chinese goods, and adding more could be risky. “We don’t want to get to a point where we hurt ourselves,” he said.
Trump’s new threat complicates the already delicate relationship between the U.S. and China. The two countries recently agreed to a truce on some of their highest tariffs as they try to negotiate a broader trade deal. This easing of tensions, which involved a deal over China’s rare-earth magnets, had even raised hopes for a potential summit between Trump and President Xi Jinping later this year.
While China’s imports of Russian energy did tick up in July, the latest data shows that its total imports from Russia this year are down compared to the same period in 2024.
