China retaliated in several stages: it imposed tariffs on selected U.S. exports in February and March 2025, then added a 34% tariff on all U.S. imports in April as the U.S.–China trade dispute escalated. That April rate rose as high as 125% before the two countries’ later agreements reduced or suspended parts of the increases. As of February 2026, China said it was reviewing countermeasures aimed at earlier U.S. tariffs; that statement did not mean every retaliatory measure had ended.
China’s retaliation came in distinct rounds
The measures had different triggers and scopes. The first rounds targeted selected U.S. exports after U.S. tariff actions tied to fentanyl; the April measures answered the broader U.S. reciprocal-tariff escalation. China also used non-tariff steps, including export controls and company designations.
| Round | What China did | Timing and later status |
|---|---|---|
| February 2025 | Applied 10%–15% tariffs to selected U.S. exports. | Effective February 10, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS). China also announced non-tariff measures between February 2 and March 10. |
| March 2025 | Applied another 10%–15% tariff round to additional U.S. exports. | Effective March 10, after a further U.S. tariff increase, according to CRS. |
| April 2025 | Announced an additional 34% tariff on all imported U.S. products; the rate was subsequently raised to 84% and then 125%. | The 34% rate took effect April 10. CRS says the 125% rate took effect April 12. May and October arrangements later reduced or suspended portions of the additional tariffs. |
The February measure’s additional tariffs were terminated effective November 10, 2025, according to China’s Ministry of Finance (MOF). That termination concerned the February measures; it should not be confused with the separate adjustment to the April tariffs.
What China did beyond tariffs
China paired its tariff response with actions affecting trade and particular companies. CRS lists export controls, designations under China’s unreliable-entity framework, an import ban on Illumina gene sequencers, and antidumping and antitrust investigations among the steps announced between February 2 and March 10. Later, during the April escalation, CRS records critical-mineral export restrictions and measures targeting U.S. entities and companies.
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These steps were not all the same kind of policy: tariffs raise charges on imports, while export controls and company-related restrictions can limit access to goods or markets. In October, China agreed to suspend implementation of rare-earth export-control measures for one year, according to the IMF’s account of the truce.
How the April tariff escalated, then changed
April: an additional 34% on U.S. imports
China’s MOF announced an additional 34% tariff on all imported U.S. products, effective at 12:01 p.m. on April 10, 2025. The announcement provided an exception for goods that had departed before that time and were imported before May 14. CRS records further increases to 84% and then 125%, with the 125% rate effective April 12.
These were successive additional tariff measures, not a statement that every U.S. product faced a single, all-inclusive 125% tariff. The cited sources describe the added rates and their scope; they do not establish the full tariff burden on any particular item.
May: a 90-day reduction
China announced that, from May 14, it would reduce the additional rate from 34% to 10% and suspend the other 24 percentage points for 90 days. MOF also said measures in two intervening adjustment announcements would cease to be implemented from that date.
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October–November: a one-year truce
The IMF describes the October 30, 2025 U.S.–China agreement as the basis for a one-year truce. In its summary, China suspended retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S. agricultural products and extended the suspension of the additional 24 percentage points for one year, while retaining an additional 10% rate. It also suspended implementation of rare-earth export-control measures for one year.
CRS says the temporary reduction to 10% was extended through November 10, 2026. Separately, MOF said the additional tariff measures under Announcement No. 4 of 2025 were adjusted effective November 10, 2025, but its notice excerpt does not state the resulting rate. The IMF’s description of the October agreement is therefore the clearest source here for the truce’s 10% additional rate; the agreement was a temporary pause, not a permanent settlement.
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What the tariff figures do—and do not—show
The 34%, 84%, and 125% figures describe announced additional tariff rates at particular stages of the 2025 escalation. They are not estimates of the average tariff across all trade. The IMF reports a different measure: by December 2025, weighted-average effective tariffs on Chinese exports entering the United States were about 23 percentage points above 2024 levels, while effective tariffs on U.S. goods entering China were about 11 percentage points above 2024 levels. The IMF says the chart data were acquired as of November 12, 2025.
Those economy-wide estimates cannot tell a reader the tariff applied to a specific product. The sources cited here also do not isolate how China’s retaliation affected consumer prices, trade volumes, or the price of any particular good, so those outcomes should not be inferred from the tariff announcements alone.
What China said about the U.S. tariff changes in February 2026
In February 2026, China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said the United States had stopped collecting the earlier fentanyl-related and reciprocal tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), following a Supreme Court ruling and related U.S. actions. MOFCOM said the United States had instead imposed a 10% import surcharge under Section 122, and that China would decide at an appropriate time whether to adjust countermeasures aimed at the original U.S. fentanyl-related and reciprocal tariffs.
This is MOFCOM’s dated account of U.S. actions and China’s intended review, not an independent legal analysis or a statement about every U.S. tariff. A MOFCOM spokesperson said, “China has consistently opposed all forms of unilateral tariff measures.” The February statement signals a possible review of specified countermeasures; it does not say that China had already changed or removed all of them.
Quick Recap
Sources
- China Ministry of Finance: April 2025 announcement imposing the 34% additional tariff.
- China Ministry of Finance: May 2025 tariff adjustment.
- China Ministry of Finance: termination of additional tariffs under the February measure, effective November 10, 2025.
- China Ministry of Finance: adjustment to April-measure tariffs, effective November 10, 2025.
- MOFCOM: February 2026 remarks on recent U.S. tariff adjustments.
- IMF: China 2025 Article IV report, published January 28, 2026.
- Congressional Research Service: timeline of 2025 presidential tariff actions, covering events through December 31, 2025.
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