Trump threatens 50% tariff
President Trump warned he could impose a 50% tariff on China after reports that Beijing might be preparing to send weapons to Iran. The threat was reported alongside offers of cheaper U.S. or Venezuelan oil as an alternative supply option in diplomatic discussions (CNBC, India Today, Hindustan Times). (cnbc.com) (indiatoday.in) (hindustantimes.com)
President Donald Trump said on April 13 he could hit China with a 50% tariff if Beijing sends weapons to Iran. (cnbc.com) Trump made the threat in a Fox News phone interview after CNN reported that United States intelligence believes China may be preparing to ship man-portable air defense systems, or shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, to Iran within weeks. Trump said he had seen the reports but also said such reports “don’t mean much to me” because they could be false. (cnbc.com) (yahoo.com) The tariff threat builds on a broader warning Trump posted on April 8, when he said any country supplying military weapons to Iran would face immediate 50% tariffs on all goods sold to the United States, with “no exclusions or exemptions.” Reuters reported that warning came hours after Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Tehran. (politico.com) (usnews.com) The immediate backdrop is a wider United States-Iran crisis centered on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Bloomberg reported on April 13 that China warned a blockade there would threaten global trade and noted that about one-fifth of global oil supply moves through the strait. (bloomberg.com) China publicly denied the new weapons allegations on April 13. Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Beijing maintains “strict regulation” over exports in line with international obligations and called the arms-transfer claims “groundless smearing,” while repeating that “there are no winners in a trade war.” (bloomberg.com) The reports did not appear out of nowhere. Reuters reported on February 24 that Iran was close to a deal to buy Chinese-made CM-302 anti-ship cruise missiles, and Reuters reported on March 26 that two senior Trump administration officials said China’s top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, had sent chipmaking tools to Iran’s military. (yahoo.com) (usnews.com) Whether Trump can actually impose the tariff as fast as he threatened is less clear. Politico reported that the Supreme Court in February stripped him of his main emergency-law tariff tool, leaving slower and narrower options such as Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which has rarely been used. (politico.com) Analysts told Reuters the threat reads mainly as a warning to Beijing, but carrying it out could disrupt Trump’s planned trip to China for a summit with President Xi Jinping next month. For now, the White House has issued a tariff threat tied to intelligence reports, and Beijing has issued a denial tied to trade-war language. (usnews.com)
