Trump Declares 90-Day Hold on Certain Tariffs, China Excepted

Increased Tariffs on Chinese Goods Now Stand at 125 Percent

President Donald Trump has put a temporary 90-day halt on wide-ranging tariffs as of Wednesday, April 9. Concurrently, he has raised the tariff on Chinese imports to an unprecedented 125 percent. Despite this suspension, a 10 percent tariff remains on goods entering the United States from other countries.

Trump announced on Truth Social that the hike to 125 percent for Chinese goods is a response to what he describes as China's disregard for global market norms. To facilitate negotiation without immediate backlash, he has approved a 90-day suspension of some tariffs and implemented a lower reciprocal tariff rate of 10 percent for countries other than China.

China and Global Reactions: Increased Tariffs and New Policies

On April 8, China declared a 50 percent tariff on U.S. products, heightening that rate to 84 percent following Trump's policy implementation. Meanwhile, the European Union has set its own tariffs to commence on April 15.

Impact on Global Trade and Business Repercussions

Trump's tariffs have wreaked havoc on international trade and immediately affected firms producing consumer goods partially or wholly outside the U.S. Many such companies can't afford the new tariffs to ship goods to American consumers, prompting them to contemplate price hikes to offset these additional costs.

For instance, tariffs have been blamed by Nintendo for pausing Switch 2 pre-orders in the U.S. and Canada. New import limitations have also hindered some product offerings: companies like Razer and Framework are unable to sell select laptops in the U.S. Additionally, Framework has postponed its 2-in-1 convertible laptop pre-orders and declared a 10 percent price increase on remaining products due to these circumstances.