U.S.-China policy drifts
- U.S. China policy is drifting from coercion toward confusion as tariffs remain stalled and no clear new framework has emerged. (reuters.com) - Washington still keeps a 25% tariff on some Chinese goods from Jan 14 and is investigating pharmaceutical duties that could reach 100%. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) - That strategic ambiguity is prompting firms and markets to seek operational workarounds and raising questions about the effectiveness of trade measures. (reuters.com)
Washington’s China policy has lost its old shape: many tariffs are tied up, some older duties still stand, and no replacement strategy is clearly in place. (usnews.com) Reuters reported on April 21 that President Donald Trump’s second-term tariff push has not fundamentally changed Beijing’s trade or military behavior more than a year after he returned to office in 2025. The same report said officials and businesses are now dealing with what it described as contradictory moves toward China. (usnews.com) The administration began with a much harder line. Reuters said Trump at one point pushed tariffs on Chinese goods to about 145%, before Beijing retaliated and the two sides settled into what the report called an uneasy détente. (usnews.com) Some China duties are still on the books. The U.S. International Trade Commission’s tariff reference, updated February 25, 2026, shows a wide range of Chinese products still subject to additional Section 301 duties, including tariff headings that carry a 25% rate. (hts.usitc.gov) Congress’s research arm said in a January 12, 2026 report that Trump’s tariff program since January 20, 2025 has relied on emergency powers and Section 232 national-security authority, while negotiations and temporary truces have repeatedly changed the terms. That left trade policy moving through court fights, executive actions, and partner-by-partner deals at the same time. (congress.gov) The White House opened another front on April 2, 2026, when Trump issued a proclamation on pharmaceutical imports after a Section 232 investigation. The proclamation said imported pharmaceuticals and active ingredients threatened national security because the United States depends heavily on overseas production. (whitehouse.gov) That pharmaceutical case is not China-only on paper, but it overlaps with the China debate because U.S. officials have increasingly tied supply-chain dependence to national security. The White House said about 53% of patented pharmaceutical products distributed in the United States were produced abroad as of 2025, and only 15% of patented active pharmaceutical ingredients by volume were made domestically for the U.S. market. (whitehouse.gov) Reuters said the policy drift has shown up in whiplash decisions beyond tariffs, including adding major Chinese companies to a military blacklist and then withdrawing the list, and allowing some artificial-intelligence chip sales after officials had framed Chinese access to those chips as a security threat. The White House told Reuters that Trump’s trade agenda had put the United States in a stronger position with Beijing. (usnews.com) Trump is scheduled to visit China on May 14-15, according to Reuters, for a meeting with President Xi Jinping that would be the first trip to China by a U.S. president in eight years. By then, Washington will still be carrying a China policy built from surviving tariffs, new investigations, and a growing list of exceptions. (usnews.com)
