Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Wednesday that U.S. tariff levels on Chinese imports will not change from their current levels, even as a trade deal between Washington and Beijing has yet to be finalized.
Asked on CNBC’s “Money Movers” if the current U.S. tariffs on China are not going to change again, Lutnick replied, “You can definitely say that.”
President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post Wednesday morning that U.S. duties on China will total 55% — but a White House official told CNBC soon after that that figure is not new.
Rather, it comprises the existing 30% blanket U.S. tariffs on China, plus the 25% tariffs on specific products that also were already in place, the official said.
Trump sent his all-caps post hours after Lutnick and other trade negotiators for the two economic superpowers concluded high-level talks in London.
The president said the deal is “done,” but added that it is still “subject to final approval” between himself and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Trump said China’s tariffs on the U.S. will stay at 10%, where they have stood since both sides agreed last month to temporarily pare back retaliatory duties on each others’ goods.
That 90-day reprieve came after initial talks in Geneva, Switzerland, that yielded a tentative de-escalation on tariffs but left other key sticking points unresolved, including on key minerals known as rare earths.
Trump in Wednesday’s post also wrote that “full magnets any necessary rare earths, will be supplied, up front, by China” as a result of the London talks.
In a follow-up, he wrote, “President XI and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade.”
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