The Trump administration agreed to once again delay the deadline when tariffs on Chinese imports would rise as discussions between the two sides continue.
The new deadline would be November 10.
“All other elements of the Agreement will remain the same,” Trump said on Truth Social.
For companies and consumers, another pause means continued uncertainty as President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime enters its fifth month.
Last week, import taxes went into effect for dozens of countries. Prices have ticked up in the United States while existing tariffs on imports from China and others work their way into the economy, with companies eating much of the higher costs and consumers absorbing some. Trump has downplayed inflation concerns and lauded the tens of billions of dollars in federal revenue from the levies.
It’s second time that the Trump administration has delayed imposing even higher tariffs on China, which is one of America’s largest trading partners. In 2024, the United States imported more than $438 billion worth of goods, including everything from clothing to electronics to toys, from China.
While there’s no deal in hand, there’s been movement on a few fronts. Just days ago, President Donald Trump authorized Nvidia and AMD to begin selling some of their artificial intelligence semiconductors into China again. China has also reportedly eased some restrictions on exports of rare earth metals. Those were key issues for both sides.
Trump’s back-and-forth with China over tariffs started just days after he re-entered office. In early February, he imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from China which quickly retaliated with higher tariffs of its own. Then, on April 2, Trump said he would slap a 34% tariff on China.
Then, a week later, after China hiked its tariffs on U.S. goods to 84%, Trump said on Truth Social: “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately.” That brought all of China’s tariffs to a total of 145%.
In early May, seeking to defuse the tension, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with their Chinese counterparts in Geneva. Following those talks, China and the U.S. both lowered tariffs on each other by 115% for 90 days. The resulting U.S. tariff on Chinese goods remained at 30%.
Just weeks later, Trump said on Truth Social that “China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.” U.S. officials later said that China was “slow rolling” the delivery of rare earths.
Bessent and Greer met again with their counterparts, namely China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng, in London in mid-June. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also joined those talks, which yielded positive language.
“The two largest economies in the world have reached a handshake for a framework,” Lutnick said at the conclusion of the London talks. Since that meeting, the details of that framework agreement has not been released or published by either government.
But those discussions did eventually lead to China resuming shipments of some rare earths used for manufacturing vehicles, smartphones, batteries and a number of other everyday items. The U.S. also allowed A.I. chipmakers Nvidia and AMD to restart sales of some of their chips into China, which they were temporarily banned from doing. Nvidia took a $5.5 billion hit from that ban while AMD predicted an $800 million impact.
But a fully-fledged trade deal with China remains elusive despite at least seven days of face-to-face talks this year between high ranking officials on both sides.
