China Adds 75% Tax on US Imports of Engineering Plastic

China is levying a new 75% tax on US imports of polyformaldehyde copolymers, a thermoplastic that’s crucial for certain engineering needs.

This new tax will be imposed despite the current 90-day tariff pause between the US and China — the new duty is not a part of the previously announced reciprocal tariffs that are being paused, but it’s potentially signalling a continued escalation of the tariff battle between the two world powers.

That’s far from all the tariff news out in the last few days. Canada’s finance minister is pushing back against a new report claiming that the nation has paused its own countertariffs against the US, while the US government has just yesterday reaffirmed its plan to reinstate the majority of the reciprocal tariffs that it has paused for dozens of countries.

What to Know About China’s New Plastic Tax

China’s new 75% duties will apply to polyformaldehyde copolymers that originate from the US, although several other countries will face lower versions of the same tax: Duties on the European Union, Taiwan, and Japan for imports of the same material will range between 32.6% and 35.5%.

All of these duties are effective as of May 19, and will last for five years.

The goal is to reduce the amounts being dumped on the market, according to the Ministry of Commerce. As reported by the South China Morning Post, the Ministry of Commerce states it has concluded that these imports were “being dumped on the Chinese market, causing substantial damage to the domestic industry, and that there was a causal relationship between the dumping and the material injury.”

The US Will Reinstate Tariffs for Most Countries

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave multiple interviews on Sunday, May 18, to clarify that the US plans to reinstate the currently paused reciprocal tariffs for all the countries that it doesn’t reach a new deal with.

Bessent told CNN on Sunday that the US is most focused on cutting deals with “18 important trading partners,” while citing “probably another 20 strong relationships.” All paused tariffs are set to be cancelled on July 9th.

The 90-day tariff pause between the US and China applies to the countertariffs recently issued by both countries, and it leaves a base 10% tariff on US imports to China and around a 30% tax on China imports to the US.

Canada’s Finance Minister Says 70% of US Countertariffs Are Still in Effect

Meanwhile, Canada’s minister of finance Francois-Philippe Champagne has responded to claims from a research firm that suggest the nation has quietly dropped its US-focused countertariffs to “nearly zero.” The report is not true, Champagne says, and he’s not being quiet about it, either.

“More of the same falsehoods,” Champagne said in a social media post. “To retaliate against U.S. tariffs, Canada launched largest-ever response — including $60B of tariffs on end-use goods. 70% of those tariffs are still in place. We temporarily and publicly paused tariffs on goods for health & public safety reasons.”

These tariffs are still in effect for US goods valued at tens of billions of dollars, despite some April 15 exemptions aimed at delivering a reprieve to any US automakers willing to keep their existing Canadian production plants in operation.