By Liz Lee and Shi Bu
BEIJING (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has targeted top economic rival China with a cascade of tariff orders on billions of dollars of imported goods aimed at narrowing a wide trade deficit, bringing back lost manufacturing and crippling the fentanyl trade.
The timeline below shows the development of the U.S.-China trade war this year:
January 21 – A day after taking office, Trump threatens 10% punitive duty on Chinese imports, citing fentanyl flowing from China.
February 1 – Trump imposes 10% on goods from China along with 25% on Mexico and Canada, demanding they curb the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the U.S.
February 4 – China responds with a wide range of measures targeting U.S. businesses including Google, farm equipment makers and the owner of fashion brand Calvin Klein.
Beijing also slaps levies of 15% on imports of U.S. coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil and some autos, beginning February 10. It also restricted exports of five metals used in defence, clean energy and other industries.
March 3 – The U.S. doubles fentanyl-related tariffs on all Chinese imports, increasing levies to 20%, effective March 4.
March 4 – China hits back with 10-15% retaliatory levies on U.S. agriculture exports, affecting about $21 billion in U.S. exports. Beijing also imposed export and investment curbs on 25 U.S. firms, on grounds of national security and banned imports of genetic sequencers from U.S. medical equipment maker Illumina.
April 2 – Trump escalates global trade friction with sweeping “liberation day” tariffs, announcing a baseline 10% across all imports and significantly higher duties on some countries. Trump levies 34% on all Chinese goods, to take effect on April 9.
The Trump administration also decides to end duty-free access for low-value shipments from China and Hong Kong, known as “de minimis” exemptions, from May 2.
April 4 – China announces retaliatory tariffs of 34% on all U.S. imports from April 10 and export curbs on some rare earths. It imposed restrictions on about 30 U.S. organisations, mostly in defence-related industries.
Beijing also suspends sorghum, poultry and bone meal shipments from some U.S. firms.
April 8 – The U.S. raises tariff on all Chinese imports to 84% from 34%.
April 9 – China raises its levies on U.S. imports to 84% too, and added 12 U.S. companies to a control list that prohibits exports of dual-use items and another six to its “unreliable entities” list, which allows Beijing to take punitive actions against foreign entities.
The U.S. further hikes tariffs on Chinese imports to 125% from 84%. China later on the day issued risk warnings to its citizens against travelling to the U.S.
April 10 – China announces it would immediately restrict imports of Hollywood films.
April 11 – China also raises levies on imports of U.S. goods to 125%, dismissing the Trump tariff strategy as “a joke” and indicated it will ignore any further U.S. “numbers game with tariffs”.
April 15 – U.S. chipmaker Nvidia discloses that U.S. officials had informed it that its H20 chip would require an export license for sales to China.
May 10-12 – Beijing and Washington hold high-stakes trade talks over the weekend in Geneva. Both sides released a joint statement agreeing to a 90-day pause on their steep tariffs.
The temporary truce meant U.S. tariffs on China will fall to 30% from 145%, while China tariffs on the U.S. drop to 10% from 125%. China also committed to removing non-tariff countermeasures imposed against the United States since April 2.
May 28-29 – U.S. says will start “aggressively” revoking visas of Chinese students. It also orders a broad swathe of companies to stop shipping goods covering semiconductors, design software and aviation equipment to China.
May 31 – Trump says China violated the agreement reached in Geneva to mutually roll back tariffs and ease Chinese curbs on critical minerals exports. China rejects the accusation, saying U.S. had introduced multiple “discriminatory restrictive” measures against China.
June 5 – Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump hold an hour-long phone call.
June 9-10 – U.S. and China hold a new round of trade talks in London and reach a framework agreement.
June 11-12 – Some Chinese rare earths magnet producers begin to receive export licences. Trump says trade truce is back on track.
June 27 – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says U.S. and China have resolved issues around rare earth minerals and magnets shipments to U.S.
July 6 – Trump threatens an additional 10% tariff on countries he said were aligning themselves with the “Anti-American policies” of BRICS, which includes China.
July 15 – U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says Nvidia plans to resume sales of its advanced AI H20 chips to China is part of U.S. negotiations on rare earths, reversing a U.S. export ban in April.
July 28-29 – U.S. and Chinese officials agree to seek an extension of their 90-day tariff truce after two days of talks in Stockholm. Both sides described the talks as constructive, but no major breakthroughs were announced.
August 1 – Bessent says believed that Washington has the makings of a deal with China and that he is “optimistic” about the path forward.
August 8 – U.S. starts issuing licenses to Nvidia to export its H20 chips to China.
August 10 – Trump urges China to quadruple its soybean purchases from the U.S. as the expiration of the trade truce looms on August 12.
August 11 – U.S. and China extend their tariff truce for another 90 days.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Shi Bu; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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