Business & Economics

Trump Threatens 25 % Tariff on All Nations Trading With Iran, Reviving US-China Trade War Risks

On 13 Jan 2026, President Trump declared he will immediately levy a blanket 25 % import duty on any country that continues commercial ties with Iran, undoing months-old tariff détente with Beijing and potentially ensnaring allies from India to the EU.

By Tomás RydellJanuary 15, 2026

Focusing Facts

China bought an estimated 80–90 % of Iran’s crude exports in 2024, worth roughly $32 billion, making it the biggest target of the new levy.
The October 2025 truce had already lowered average U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods to about 47.5 %, down from peaks above 100 %.
The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule this week on whether Trump’s previous use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs was legal.

Washington last used tariffs as geopolitical bludgeon at this scale in 1930 when Smoot-Hawley triggered global retaliation and deepened the Depression; like then, today’s move risks a chain reaction just as growth forecasts mirror the 1960s slowdown. Structurally, it exemplifies a two-decade trend—the U.S. weaponising market access while rivals build alternative supply webs (note China’s record $1.2 trn 2025 surplus and stockpiled 1.3 bn barrels of crude). If enforced, the tariff could accelerate a century-long drift from a U.S-centric trade order toward a fragmented, sanctions-normalised landscape where large economies hedge by courting Beijing—echoing the 1973 oil embargo’s push for energy diversification. Whether the Court or practical blowback neuters the threat, the episode signals how quickly perceived U.S. leverage is eroding.

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Chinese state-owned media
Right-leaning U.S. media
Financial and business press

Focusing Facts

You've read the facts. The perspectives are behind this line.

Perspectives in this article

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