President Donald Trump indicated he may be approaching a limit on how high he’s willing to raise tariffs on China, citing concerns that overly steep tariffs could hurt U.S. consumer spending.
During a press conference in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he might not increase tariffs even if China raises its duties on American goods beyond the current 125%.
“At some point, I don’t want to go any higher, because people might stop buying,” Trump explained when asked how he would respond to further Chinese tariff hikes. “I might even want to lower them—you’ve got to keep people buying.”
Earlier that day, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed Trump’s proposed tariff hikes, accusing the U.S. of playing a meaningless “numbers game,” after the White House suggested Chinese exports could face tariffs of up to 245%. Last week, Beijing had already criticized the rising U.S. tariffs, calling them economically insignificant.
China remains the third-largest buyer of U.S. exports, behind Canada and Mexico, purchasing $143.5 billion worth of American goods last year, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Aside from tariffs, the U.S. and China continue to escalate their trade dispute through other retaliatory measures.
China has limited Hollywood film imports and, according to reports, has asked its airlines to halt new orders from Boeing. Meanwhile, the U.S. has imposed new restrictions on H20 chip exports to China, requiring special licenses—a move analysts interpret as an effective ban.
Despite tensions, Trump said his personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping remains positive, noting that Xi has contacted him “a number of times.”
On the topic of TikTok, Trump said a deal is in place but remains pending due to the broader U.S.-China conflict. The Chinese-owned app faces a summer deadline to divest its U.S. operations or be banned from app stores.
Trump mentioned that companies like Amazon, Oracle, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, and YouTuber MrBeast have shown interest in acquiring TikTok’s U.S. assets. “If we’re making a deal,” Trump said, “we’ll probably spend five minutes talking about TikTok. It wouldn’t take long.”
