President Donald Trump‘s administration has hiked tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. by up to 245%, as per a fact sheet released by the White House on Apr. 15.
Trump signed an executive order launching an investigation into the national security risks posed by American reliance on imported critical minerals and their derivatives.
On Apr. 13, China halted exports of a range of critical rare earth metals and minerals, such as samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.
China produces around 90% of the world's rare earth metals, which are crucial to the manufacturing of automobiles, aerospace, semiconductors, and defense equipment globally. Most of the U.S. supply comes from China.
China had earlier banned exports of gallium, germanium, antimony, etc., crucial to military applications, to the U.S.
The U.S.'s latest tariff hike on Chinese imports is a response to these actions.
"China now faces up to a 245% tariff on imports to the United States as a result of its retaliatory actions," the fact sheet mentioned.
The U.S. is reliant on "foreign sources, particularly adversarial nations," for critical minerals, and foreign players have engaged in arbitrary export restrictions, among other tactics, using their supply chain dominance as a tool for geopolitical and economic leverage over the U.S., the fact sheet alleged.
Note that Trump hiked tariffs on 180 countries on Apr. 2 as part of his tariff war before pausing them for 90 days for all except China on Apr. 9.
Related: Trump Tariff Live Updates: Trump open to make a trade deal with Xi Jinping
As of now, Chinese tariffs on U.S. imports stand at 125%, and the U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports stand at 245%.
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