Donald Trump drops 100pc tariff threat to China

Melissa Lawford

Fri, October 17, 2025 at 6:34 AM PDT·

Donald Trump has said he will ditch his 100pc tariff threat on China as he prepares to meet Xi Jinping for trade talks.

The US president confirmed that he planned to meet his Chinese counterpart in two weeks and dialled down his tariff threats after tensions erupted between the two nations last week.

Asked on Fox News on Friday morning if the new 100pc tariffs on goods from China that he announced last week will stand, Mr Trump said: “No.”

Mr Trump added: “It’s not sustainable, but that’s what the number is. It’s probably not, you know. It could stand.

“But they forced me to do that. I think we’re going to do fine with China. I get along great with him. He’s a very strong leader, an amazing man, when you look at what he’s done.

“I think we’re going to be fine with China, but we have to have a fair deal, it’s got to be fair.”

Mr Trump last week accused China of holding the world hostage after the Communist state introduced new export controls on the rare earths that are essential in the production of everything from computer chips to cars and solar panels.

In retaliation, the US president said he would place 100pc tariffs on Chinese goods imports to the US from Nov 1 and that he saw “no reason” to go ahead with a planned meeting with Xi, expected to be held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.

It marked the latest escalation in the trade war between the US and China, which saw Mr Trump place tit-for-tat levies of as high as 145pc on imports of Chinese goods. The tariffs were paused under a string of truces, but these are set to expire as early as Nov 10, unless they are extended again.

Mr Trump said on Friday: “We’re doing very well on China. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen. We’re going to meet in a couple of weeks.

“We’re going to meet in South Korea, actually, with President Xi and other people too.”

Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, suggested on Wednesday that America could keep China tariffs low in exchange for a delay on the introduction of export controls.

Mr Bessent said: “Right now we are currently in a 90-day roll on the tariff. So is it possible that we could go to a longer roll in return for a delay, perhaps, but all that’s going to be negotiated in the coming weeks before the leaders meet Korea.”