US said to hold off on tariffs until after Xi-Trump summit

[WASHINGTON] The US is expected to hold off announcing new tariffs on China and other trading partners until after next week’s summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, according to people familiar with the matter, a delay that could preserve the threat as leverage in the negotiations.

The administration had intended to release a trade report on alleged excess capacity before the meeting that would recommend a 7.5 per cent tariff on Chinese goods, Bloomberg previously reported.

The reason for the delay is unclear, but Trump has repeatedly used tariff threats to press trading partners for concessions. US and Chinese negotiators are set to meet over the weekend to discuss any agreements ahead of Xi’s state visit.

It is also uncertain whether the final tariff rate will change from the previously expected level, which would restore Trump’s second-term duties on China to around 20 per cent, a rate Beijing has previously said is consistent with its trade truce with Washington. 

China has previously signalled that it could take action if US tariffs exceed prevailing levels when the trade truce was struck.

“We hope that the US will honour its commitments, ensuring that regardless of the reasons given for imposing or replacing tariffs on China in the future, US tariffs on China will not exceed the levels outlined in the Kuala Lumpur trade consultations,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a May statement. 

In March, the Trump administration launched an investigation into more than a dozen major trading partners under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 over excess capacity concerns.

Those expected levies, along with already-implemented duties related to forced labour, are expected to eventually bring tariff rates closer to Trump’s country-specific duties that were overturned by the Supreme Court earlier in 2026.

The Office of the US Trade Representative and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. Inside US Trade first reported the delay. 

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“A key question for the US team is how much it might be willing and able to leverage tariff threats to push China for stronger import and export commitments. Chinese exporters’ resilience to Washington’s hefty tariffs through 2025 is likely to blunt that leverage,” said Nicole Gorton-Caratelli, a Bloomberg News economist.  

US and Chinese officials are expected to discuss a number of issues during the summit, including the war in Iran, trade and artificial intelligence.

The US is offering only a six-month extension of the truce, the Financial Times reported, citing sources.

Washington believes Beijing has not fully delivered on commitments it made on rare earths when Xi and Trump met in Busan, South Korea, in October, the newspaper said. That agreement saw Beijing guarantee flows of rare earths in exchange for reduced US tariffs, a deal that is set to expire in November.

Washington, meanwhile, is pushing ahead with efforts to reduce its reliance on imports of critical minerals.

The Pentagon announced this week it will take a stake of almost 20 per cent in a US producer of tungsten – a metal used in military hardware – expanding the Trump administration’s push to secure key supplies outside China.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed Middle East issues with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call on Thursday, said China’s Foreign Ministry. Wang said the next stage of high-level exchanges between the two countries should be conducted in the spirit of equality, respect and mutual benefit. BLOOMBERG