The administration later walked back its initial proposal, and announced April 9 it would immediately hike tariffs on Chinese goods to 145%, but scale back reciprocal tariffs on other countries for 90 days to a baseline of 10%. In response, China proceeded to boost its tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the US tariffs put on China are unsustainable. He would not confirm if anyone from the Trump administration is talking to counterparts in Beijing. Bessent spoke at a White House press briefing.