US Formally Cuts Fentanyl Tariff On China To 10% After Xi Deal
Isaac BennettUS President Donald Trump formally cut a fentanyl-related tariff on imports from China to 10%, delivering on a key element of the sweeping trade deal struck with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
US President Donald Trump formally cut a fentanyl-related tariff on imports from China to 10%, delivering on a key element of the sweeping trade deal struck with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The move, which lowers the levy from the current 20% rate, will be effective on Nov. 10, according to an executive order issued Tuesday.
"The PRC has committed to take significant measures to end the flow of fentanyl to the United States, including stopping the shipment of certain designated chemicals to North America and strictly controlling exports of certain other chemicals to all destinations in the world," Trump said in the order.
Trump imposed the fentanyl tariff to pressure Beijing to do more to crack down on trafficking of the deadly drug and the precursor chemicals used to make it, but agreed to lower the rate following an October summit with Xi in South Korea, citing progress with China's efforts.
Trump said the State Department and Department of Homeland Security would continue to monitor China's implementation of the agreement.
"Should the PRC fail to implement its commitments as described in section 1 of this order, I may modify this order as necessary," Trump said.
The reduced rate marks a significant concession to China and is part of a broader pact between Trump and Xi that will ease trade restrictions following months of spiraling tariff announcements and export curbs between the world's two largest economies.
That agreement — intended to last for one year — stabilized what was a turbulent relationship between Washington and Beijing that had them escalating threats in a bid for leverage ahead of the summit. The Trump-Xi deal, however, falls short of any enduring pact, setting the stage for further turbulence ahead of renegotiations in a year and potential disagreements over enforcement sooner.
In addition to reducing the fentanyl rate to 10%, the truce is also expected to extend the suspension, for one year, of a separate 24% levy. But the full tariff picture remains murky; several goods are excluded from the baseline levy and other products face preexisting tariffs.
The deal eases what had been a comparative disadvantage for China over some peers. Trump's tariff rate on China — long considered America's biggest trading foe and a major geopolitical rival — is now nearly the same as the levies applied on several Southeast Asian countries.
Trump, speaking to reporters shortly after the Xi meeting, said the Chinese leader pledged that "he was going to work very hard to stop the flow" of fentanyl. Trump has said he would cut all fentanyl-related tariffs if Beijing cracks down, signaling a possible concession in future talks.
Still, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that the fentanyl-related tariff reduction may be reviewed sooner than the one-year timeframe of the overall deal.
"We're going to set up a very strict quantitative criteria and we'll revisit it in six or 12 months to see whether they've accomplished it. And my sense is the tariffs could go up or down," Bessent told Fox News Sunday on Nov. 2.
Trump said he expects to visit China in the first half of next year, and to host Xi in the US after that trip. Those meetings will serve as crucial markers for the status of the truce. The deal also rests under a cloud of legal uncertainty with the US Supreme Court weighing the constitutionality of Trump's use of emergency powers to enact country-by-country levies.
