China, in his words · 2016 campaign · № 26
Said a 45 percent tax on Chinese goods was 'a threat' if China did not 'behave'
“The 45 percent tax is a threat. It was not a tax, it was a threat. It will be a tax if they don't behave. Take China as an example. I have many friends, great manufacturers, they want to go into China. They can't. China won't let them.”
- Said
- , Republican presidential debate, Miami, Florida (CNN)
- Subject
- 45 percent tariff threat
- Threat
- Economic threat
- Topic
- Trade & tariffs
- Era
- 2016 campaign
What the record showed
In office he raised tariffs on Chinese goods in stages beginning in 2018. By February 2020 the average U.S. tariff on Chinese exports was 19.3 percent, more than six times the January 2018 level, and covered 66.6 percent of imports from China, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics; China's average tariff on U.S. exports rose to 21 percent from 8.0 percent. In his second term the average U.S. tariff on imports from China reached 127.2 percent in April 2025, then fell to 51.8 percent after the two sides met in Geneva and cut rates effective May 14, 2025.