President Donald Trump said he could punish China with additional tariffs over its purchases of Russian oil, though one of his top advisers played down the likelihood.
Trump floated that possibility on Wednesday after doubling tariffs on Indian goods for buying Russian energy. Responding to a reporter’s question on penalizing China for the same reason, he said that “may happen.”
“I mean I don’t know. I can’t tell you yet. But I can — we did it with — we did it with India. We’re doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China,” Trump said in the White House.
Any additional levies on Chinese products would add to already high rates that sank the country’s exports to the US in recent months. It’s also assured to invite retaliation from Beijing, which leveraged its control of rare-earth magnets to secure a deal with the US to lower tariffs earlier this year.
China’s imports from Russia edged up in July to $10.06 billion — the highest level since March — according to the latest customs data. But overall this year, imports from Russia are still down 7.7% compared to the same period in 2024.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro suggested putting new tariffs on Chinese exports is unlikely because higher duties may hurt the US.
“Let’s see what happens,” Navarro told reporters on Wednesday. “We have over 50% tariffs on China. We don’t want to get to a point where we hurt ourselves.”
China’s Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
US-China ties have steadied after the two sides agreed to put sky-high tariffs on hold as they seek to negotiate an agreement.
The easing tensions raised the prospect of a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping this year, although there remain unresolved issues including over the supply of advanced AI chips.
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