Trump Considers Slashing China Tariffs

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

P.M. Edition for April 23. We exclusively report that President Trump is considering cutting steep tariffs on Chinese imports, a move that could de-escalate the trade war. WSJ chief China correspondent Lingling Wei tells us what that means for the broader relationship between the U.S. and China. Plus, not even a U-turn on the trade war would erase concerns over erratic economic policy that may make U.S. assets seem riskier to some foreign investors. Heard on the Street columnist Jon Sindreu discusses what a flight of foreign investment could mean for U.S. markets. And as companies prepare for the impact of tariffs, they are already weighing how to pass those additional costs on to consumers. WSJ business reporter Natasha Khan joins the podcast to discuss the art of raising prices. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	President Trump considers reducing the tariffs on Chinese goods in an effort to de-escalate the trade war.
0:09.4	What he's considering right now is a small positive sign for de-escalation, but it doesn't fundamentally change the overall dynamics with China, but it's the move and now
0:23.8	the ball is in China's court. Plus, why even a trade war U-turn might not restore confidence in
0:30.3	U.S. assets for foreign investors? And President Trump blames Ukrainian President Zelensky
0:36.3	for failing to accept a U.S. peace plan.
0:39.3	It's Wednesday, April 23rd.
0:41.4	I'm Alex Oslo for the Wall Street Journal.
0:43.6	This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.
1:03.8	We're exclusively reporting that the Trump administration is considering slashing its steep tariffs on Chinese imports in a bid to de-escalate tensions with Beijing.
1:12.9	That's according to people familiar with the matter. A White House spokesman said that tariff decisions will come directly from the president and that anything else is speculation.
1:23.5	Later in the day, Bloomberg News reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that Trump hasn't offered to take down U.S. tariffs on China on a unilateral basis.
1:28.2	For more, I'm joined by WSJ Chief China Correspondent Ling Ling Wei.
1:32.6	Ling, you write that President Trump hasn't made up his mind fully about this yet,
1:34.8	but what are some of the plans floating around?
1:37.8	For now, nothing has been decided.
1:45.5	The administration officials have told us that whatever action the Trump administration takes wouldn't be unilateral.
1:51.0	They would also want to see some action from China as well to lower tariffs.
1:56.0	So for the Trump administration, at least a couple of options are on the table right now. One involves reducing the current very, very high tariffs of 145% on Chinese imports to between
2:06.4	roughly 50% and 65%. Another approach involves adopting a tiered system similar to some legislation
2:17.0	proposed by the House Committee on China late last year.
2:21.3	Under that approach, the tariffs would be reduced to 35% for non-strategic products.
2:29.7	Basically, things that are not considered the threat to U.S. national security and at least 100 percent
	...

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