US to keep China trade tariffs steady ahead of key Trump-Xi meeting: Greer

Washington will keep China tariffs at their current level as the Trump administration seeks “continuity” after the Supreme Court struck down the levies it imposed last year, according to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, weeks ahead of a high-stakes meeting between the two countries’ leaders.

The US will keep in place current China tariffs, which have varied from 35 per cent to 50 per cent depending on the product, since the countries “de-escalated” the trade war last year, Greer said on Wednesday in an interview with Fox Business.

Greer’s remarks came days after Supreme Court justices blocked the sweeping tariffs US President Donald Trump imposed last year using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), effectively invalidating a powerful tool the White House has used to launch its global trade war.

Trump last week quickly responded to the Supreme Court’s decision by saying that he had “great alternatives” that would allow him to “take in more money”. He pledged to invoke Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose 10 per cent global tariffs, then announced on social media that he was actually increasing them to 15 per cent, the maximum rate allowed under the law.