Trump amends executive order raising China tariffs to 20% over ‘failure to address’ fentanyl crisis

The White House announced Monday that China will face increased tariffs, citing the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the U.S. as the main reason for the decision.

In a post on X, the Rapid Response 47 account shared the text of an executive order (EO) signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. The Chinese government will now face 20% tariffs “over their failure to address the fentanyl pouring into our country,” the EO stated.

The tariffs against China, which were originally only 10%, will go into effect on Tuesday. In Monday’s order, Trump said that the Chinese government has failed “to blunt the sustained influx of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, flowing from [their country],” and that such failure constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”

Trump also said that the crisis jeopardizes the “national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

MEXICO, CANADA TARIFFS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED DUE TO ‘UNACCEPTABLE’ DRUG FLOW, TRUMP SAYS

President Donald Trump will impose 20% tariffs on Chinese imports, citing the ongoing fentanyl crisis as a reason for the decision. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo | iStock)

“I have determined that the [People’s Republic of China] has not taken adequate steps to alleviate the illicit drug crisis through cooperative enforcement actions, and that the crisis described in Executive Order 14195 has not abated,” the order read. 

“In recognition of the fact that the PRC has not taken adequate steps to alleviate the illicit drug crisis, section 2(a) of Executive Order 14195 is hereby amended by striking the words ‘10 percent’ and inserting in lieu thereof the words ‘20 percent’.”

The Trump administration is already imposing 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, which were announced last month and will also go into effect on Tuesday. On Monday, Peter Navarro, the White House senior counselor on trade and manufacturing, defended the tariffs to CNBC and argued that the issue “starts in communist China with the precursor chemicals.”

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President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.  (Pool)

“It comes into Mexico, and they make the fentanyl. But they also have these pill presses. So they do the counterfeits,” Navarro explained. “And they’re using Canada as a transit hub and secondary point to manufacture as well. So this is a Canada-Mexico-China thing.”

The Chinese government has opposed the tariffs since they were announced. In a Feb. 1 statement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that China is “one of the world’s toughest countries on counternarcotics both in terms of policy and its implementation.”

President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, D.C., US, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“Additional tariffs are not constructive and bound to affect and harm the counternarcotics cooperation between the two sides in the future,” the statement read. “China calls on the U.S. to correct its wrongdoings, maintain the hard-won positive dynamics in the counternarcotics cooperation, and promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relationship.”

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.