The White House has confirmed that the total tariffs on Chinese goods are now 145 percent, not 125 percent as announced yesterday, and are effective immediately, the BBC reports.
Although US President Donald Trump announced yesterday that he planned to increase tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent, the White House has now clarified that this figure refers only to the latest increase. Namely, this is added to the previously imposed 20 percent tariff – giving a total rate of 145 percent.
The new total figure became clear when the text of Trump’s executive order on “modifying reciprocal tariff rates” was released to the media on Thursday morning.
The confusion arose from separate 20 percent tariffs that Trump imposed in February and March over issues related to fentanyl and illegal immigration.
What the order made clear was that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States was being amended to increase the reciprocal tariff rate to 125 percent, while the other 20 percent tariffs remained unchanged.
Now, those rates are combined, bringing the total tariff on Chinese imports to at least 145 percent.
CNBC was first to notice the discrepancy, and a White House official confirmed the calculation to Yahoo Finance.
