Facing Price Hikes, Empty Store Shelves, Trump Hints He’ll Lower China Tariffs

President Trump’s 145% tariff on Chinese imports, including video game consoles, might not last long. On Tuesday, the president signaled he’s ready to lower the tariff rate in an effort to de-escalate his trade war with China. 

“145% is very high, and it won’t be that high,” Trump told a reporter who asked about Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mentioning that the US trade war with China was unsustainable. 

“No, it won’t be anywhere near that high,” Trump said, later adding, “It’ll come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.”

On Wednesday, Trump also told reporters that the US is in tariff negotiations with many countries, including China, and members of the European Union.

The potential de-escalation could lessen the threat of price hikes when a wide range of consumer goods, including electronics, are manufactured in China. Still, Trump has refused to fully rescind the tariffs. According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump’s team is considering lowering the 145% rate to 50 to 65% instead — which is still high and will likely force vendors to pass on increased costs to consumers. 

The White House appears to be dialing back tariffs amid concern the trade war threatens to both depress the stock market and disrupt access to consumer goods. According to Axios, the CEOs of Walmart, Target, and Home Depot met with Trump on Monday and warned that tariffs will not only trigger price increases, but lead to empty store shelves. That’s probably because vendors will balk at importing goods they’d need to pay high tariffs on and be forced to sell at inflated prices, which consumers won’t pay.

In the meantime, Trump has temporarily exempted computers, phones, and graphics cards from the 145% tariff on China. But the reprieve wasn’t given to Chinese-assembled video game consoles, TVs, or other PC components such as fans and power supplies. In addition, Trump has previously warned he still plans on targeting Chinese-assembled computers, phones, and chips through a special category of tariffs over time.

About Michael Kan

Senior Reporter

I’ve been working as a journalist for over 15 years—I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017.

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