On October 8, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump points and speaks during a roundtable discussion on the anti-fascist movement “Antifa,” which he designated as a domestic “terrorist organization” by executive order on September 22, at the White House in Washington, DC.
Evelyn HochsteinReuter
President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States will impose new 100% tariffs on imports from China starting Nov. 1, “exceeding the tariffs we currently pay.”
President Trump also said on the same day that the United States would also impose export controls on “all critical software.”
The president’s announcement came hours after he threatened to “significantly increase” tariffs on imports from China in retaliation for new restrictions that China imposed on exports of rare earth minerals from the country.
About 70% of the world’s rare earth mineral supplies come from China. This mineral is essential to high-tech industries such as automotive, defense, and semiconductors.
President Trump suggested early Friday that he might cancel his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in South Korea, citing new restrictions from China.
Almost all products imported into the United States from China already face steep tariffs. While specific tariffs on imports vary in level from 50% on steel and aluminum to 7.5% on consumer goods, the so-called effective tariff rate on imports from China is currently 40%, according to analysts at Wells Fargo Economics and the New York Fed.
“We have learned that China has taken a very aggressive stance on trade and has sent a very hostile letter to the world saying that starting November 1, 2025, it intends to impose massive export restrictions on almost all products made by China, and even products not made by China,” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday.
“This affects all countries without exception, and is clearly a plan devised by each country years ago. It is completely unprecedented in international trade and a moral disgrace in doing business with other countries,” Trump wrote.
“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and on behalf of the United States alone and not other similarly threatened countries, starting November 1, 2025 (or sooner, depending on further actions and changes by China), the United States will impose 100% tariffs on China that exceed the tariffs it currently pays,” he said.
“Also, on November 1st, we will impose export controls on all critical software.”
China’s Ministry of Commerce announced on Thursday that from December 1, foreign companies will need a permit to export products containing more than 0.1% of Chinese rare earths, or products made using Chinese extraction, refining, magnet manufacturing or recycling technologies.
