President Donald Trump is moving toward slapping China with a new 7.5% tariff, targeting what his administration views as a deliberate strategy to flood global markets with underpriced goods. The move signals growing frustration in Washington. Yet it’s carefully calibrated to avoid derailing a fragile one-year trade truce between the world’s two largest economies.
Three sources familiar with internal White House deliberations confirmed the tariff level to reporters on Monday, speaking anonymously because final decisions haven’t been announced. Why 7.5%? Administration officials believe that’s the sweet spot that punishes Beijing without torpedoing a planned late September meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The strategy represents a workaround. After the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping high-tariff scheme earlier this year, one not seen since the 1930s, his team launched formal investigations in March targeting excess industrial capacity and forced labor regulations across multiple nations.
Beyond China, those probes span fifteen other economies including the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and India. Whether any of those investigations are nearing conclusions remains unclear. Neither the White House nor the U.S. Trade Representative’s office responded to requests for comment Monday.
The timing matters as much as the tariff rate itself. With Xi’s visit just weeks away, Trump’s walking a tightrope between appearing tough on trade and maintaining diplomatic channels that took months to elish.
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