Name: How Trumps new tariff rate on China will impact consumers
Uploaded: 2025-10-31T00:13:24.342Z
Duration: 4 min 12 s
Description: President Trump says he will lower tariffs on goods from China. Some of the top products the U.S. imports from China include electronics, fuel, oil, ore, heavy machinery and precious stones and metals.

President Trump says he will lower tariffs on goods from China. Some of the top products the U.S. imports from China include electronics, fuel, oil, ore, heavy machinery and precious stones and metals.

Washington

President Trump has stated that tariffs on goods imported from China will be reduced to 47%, following discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping. While this is a decrease from the previously proposed 150%, it remains significantly higher than earlier levels and those applied to other countries. 

The ongoing uncertainty over tariff rates continues to challenge U.S. businesses, especially small importers and those planning for future seasons. Meanwhile, China has agreed to purchase U.S. soybeans, but the quantities are lower than pre-trade war levels, leaving many American farmers concerned about their financial outlook.

How Trump's new tariff rate on China will impact consumers

As we've been reporting, President Trump says he will lower tariffs on goods from China that matters to consumers. Some of the top products the U.S. imports from China include electronics, fuel and oil, ore, heavy machinery and precious stones and metals. Overall, China had the second largest share of U.S. imports last year at more than 13%, only coming behind Mexico. After meeting face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, President Trump says he will reduce tariffs on China to 47%. But that's still an added cost for businesses and their customers. Kristen Meyers joins us now. She's the ETF editor-in-chief for AssetTV. Thanks for being here with us. So President Trump says the tariffs will go down to 47%. Is that a win for consumers? I mean, it is a slight win now that the cost burden that's being passed on to U.S. consumers is not going to be as high as it was before. But we have to remember that 47% is still much higher than any other nation really has. However, of course, it's a big win from the proposed 150% that had been originally proposed by the White House earlier this year. But again, this is still a huge jump from the original China tariffs, which are hovering around 20%, much higher than other countries. And that is a huge problem since the United States does import a lot of goods from China. So essentially, there's like a one year truce between the U.S. and China. None of this is set in stone. None of it has even been put in writing. Is tariff uncertainty still a major issue for businesses as they try and plan ahead? In a word, yes. A lot of companies have no idea what tariffs are going to be, if there are going to be any. And as I just mentioned, what that level is going to be at. And that really creates a lot of problems for businesses, particularly small businesses that right now are going to be doing a lot of imports for the holiday season and also have to plan for 2026. They have no idea how much money they should be putting out up front in determination about whether they're going to have to pay more money in tariffs. They have no idea how they should price some of these goods, if they should weather the storm for a little bit and not lose customers, or if they should start passing on some of those costs. And the one thing that businesses don't really like is uncertainty. And all we have had in the tariff war and the trade war throughout 2025 has been uncertainty. And a number of companies throughout their quarterly earnings reports has frankly said tariff uncertainty is part of the reason why we are doing layoffs, why we have some cutbacks, and even why we are seeing some revenue hits. All right, Kristen Myers, thank you so much. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says China has agreed to purchase 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually. It's part of an agreement reached between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. But as CBS News correspondent Lana Zak reports, some soybean farmers say they are still concerned. We are finally learning some of the details about that trade agreement that President Trump and President Xi of China have hammered out. We are told to expect China to purchase 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans. The problem with that and the reason why farmers are not currently celebrating is that's about half as much as China purchased last year. We do know moving forward that China intends to make it back to those pre-trade war levels, somewhere around 25 million metric tons. But farmers say they still need to make it to 2026, and they are not sure that all of them will be able to do so. They're also awaiting that promised aid package from President Trump. But the administration says that that will remain on hold until the government shutdown is over. As you can imagine, the future markets for soybeans have fluctuated, initially dropping upon news of this trade agreement. They have been climbing up since then. But the farmers that I spoke with said that they are not yet ready to sell any of their soybean crops, which are being housed right now in silos because those crops are still underwater and they don't want to lock in a loss. I'll send it back to you. Lana Zak, thank you.

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