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.
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.
Context
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.
Perspectives
Chinese state-owned media
Chinese state-owned media — Trump’s threatened 25 % tariffs are an irresponsible act of economic coercion that could undo the painstaking progress in China-US relations and damage global growth. The editorial presents Beijing as the defender of multilateral trade while glossing over China’s own commerce with Iran and its interest in painting Washington as the sole spoiler.
Right-leaning U.S. media
Right-leaning U.S. media — The tariff move is a hard-nosed tactic that rightly puts pressure on Beijing for bankrolling Tehran and strengthens Trump’s hand against the Iranian regime. Coverage stresses national-security leverage and applauds toughness, largely sidestepping the legal uncertainties and higher consumer costs that could undercut the policy.
Financial and business press
Financial and business press — Market-oriented outlets caution that the new duties could boomerang on the U.S. by stoking inflation, unsettling investors and imperiling the fragile trade truce with China. Their lens foregrounds price volatility and corporate planning worries, giving comparatively little attention to the protesters in Iran or the moral case for sanctions.