How Much Are Tariffs From China: 47.5% Average and Timeline

U.S. tariffs on imports from China average 47.5% as of mid-2026, applied across every product category, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. ¹ That is a weighted average, not a flat duty: the amount you owe on any specific Chinese-made item depends on which of several overlapping tariff layers apply to it. Before the trade war began in 2018, the equivalent average sat at roughly 3%. ²

Since January 20, 2025, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods have risen by 26.8 percentage points. China’s retaliatory tariffs on American exports now average 31.9%, also covering 100% of goods. ¹

What Makes Up the 47.5% Average

The rate on any given Chinese product is the sum of several duties imposed under different legal authorities. An importer typically pays more than one at once.

Normal most-favored-nation duty under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, historically averaging about 2.5% across all goods.²
Section 301 tariffs, originally imposed in 2018–2019, running 7.5% to 25% for most goods but reaching 100% on electric vehicles, 50% on semiconductors, and 50% on solar cells after a Biden-era review finalized in September 2024.³⁴
The reciprocal tariff on China, currently held at 10% under the Kuala Lumpur arrangement extending through November 10, 2026.⁵
Section 232 duties on steel, aluminum, and derivative products, restructured in April 2026 to run 15% to 50% based on metal content.⁶
Product-specific antidumping and countervailing duties that may sit on top of everything else.

Richmond Fed research confirms these layers stack cumulatively: an importer pays the sum, not the highest. ² So a Chinese-made electric vehicle carrying steel content faces a very different total than a Chinese-made toy, even though both fall inside the 47.5% average.

How the Rate Reached 47.5%

The number is the result of about eight years of escalation, one truce, one Supreme Court ruling, and a bilateral deal.

2018 to Early 2025

Section 301 tariffs took effect in four rounds beginning in July 2018, covering $34 billion, then $16 billion, then $200 billion, then $300 billion in Chinese imports. Rates ran 7.5% to 25%. ⁷ A Phase One deal signed in January 2020 froze most rates, leaving the U.S. average on Chinese goods at 19.3%. The Biden administration kept those duties and, following a four-year review, sharply raised rates on EVs, solar cells, semiconductors, steel and aluminum products, and EV batteries. ⁸ By January 2025 the overall average sat near 20.7%. ¹

The 2025 Spike and Pullback

In February 2025 the second Trump administration imposed a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, citing fentanyl. That rate doubled to 20% in March. ⁹¹⁰ In April, a new reciprocal tariff on China was raised in stages from 34% to 84% to 125% amid retaliatory exchanges. Combined with the other layers, the total effective tariff on Chinese goods peaked around 145% in April 2025. ¹¹

Negotiators pulled the rate down through three agreements: a May 2025 Geneva deal that suspended 24 percentage points of the reciprocal tariff for 90 days, a Stockholm extension in August, and the Kuala Lumpur Joint Arrangement reached at a Trump–Xi meeting in South Korea and implemented by executive order on November 4, 2025. ¹²⁵ Under the November deal the reciprocal tariff stays at 10% through November 10, 2026, and the fentanyl-linked IEEPA rate dropped from 20% to 10%. In exchange, China agreed to purchase U.S. soybeans, sorghum, and logs, suspend tariffs on a range of American agricultural products through the end of 2026, and postpone export controls on rare earths and critical minerals. ¹⁰

Why the Rate Didn’t Fall Further After the Supreme Court Ruling

On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court held 6–3 in the consolidated cases of Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. ¹³ Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts said the Constitution vests the tariff power in Congress and that IEEPA’s authority to “regulate” imports does not include the power to tax. The Court applied the major questions doctrine, noting that no president had used IEEPA to impose tariffs in the statute’s half-century history. ¹⁴ Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Barrett, and Jackson joined. Justice Thomas dissented, joined by Justices Kavanaugh and Alito. ¹⁵

The ruling invalidated the fentanyl tariffs and the IEEPA-based reciprocal tariffs, and the president issued Executive Order 14389 that same day directing that those duties would no longer be collected. The Section 301 tariffs, the Section 232 duties on metals, and the Biden-era strategic-sector increases were imposed under different statutes and continue to apply. That is why the average settled at 47.5% rather than returning to anything close to the pre-2018 baseline.

Small Packages: The De Minimis Exemption Is Gone

Individual buyers ordering directly from China should not assume small orders arrive duty-free. Until 2025, shipments valued at $800 or less entered the U.S. tariff-free under the de minimis provision. The administration ended that exemption for goods from China and Hong Kong effective May 2, 2025. ¹⁶ Small shipments from China now face either the full applicable duties or, for postal shipments, flat fees that started at $25 per item and rose to $50 after June 2025.

As of August 29, 2025, the de minimis exemption ended for commercial shipments from all countries, with postal shipments subject to flat fees of $80 to $200 depending on the sending country’s tariff rate. ¹⁷ More than 1.36 billion de minimis shipments had entered the country annually before the change, up from about 139 million in 2015. ¹⁸

What Could Change the Rate

The 47.5% figure is not stable. Two dates on the calendar could move it in either direction.

The suspension holding the reciprocal tariff on China at 10% expires November 10, 2026. If no new agreement is reached, the administration could reimpose the higher rate. The 178 Section 301 tariff exclusions extended in November 2025 carry the same expiration date. ¹⁹

A separate 100% Section 232 tariff on most imported patented pharmaceuticals, announced in April 2026, is scheduled to take effect September 29, 2026. The duty applies to imports globally rather than singling out China and exempts generic drugs, orphan drugs, and companies that reach onshoring or drug-pricing agreements with the government. ²⁰ The Yale Budget Lab projects that if all scheduled policies take effect, the overall U.S. effective tariff rate across all trading partners could reach 12.2% by the end of 2026, up from 11.8% in April, the highest since the early 1940s. ⁶

To find the exact duty on a specific product, check the Harmonized Tariff Schedule maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission for the item’s classification code and the layered rates that apply. ²¹

1
PIIE. US-China Trade War Tariffs Date Chart
2
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Economic Brief
3
USTR. Section 301 Tariff Actions
4
USTR. Section 301 Modifications Determination
5
Federal Register. Modifying Reciprocal Tariff Rates Consistent With the Economic and Trade Arrangement
6
Yale Budget Lab. State of US Tariffs
7
AutoCare Association. Section 301 China Tariffs
8
White & Case. United States Finalizes Section 301 Tariff Increases on Imports From China
9
Federal Register. Imposing Duties To Address the Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the PRC
10
PIIE. Fentanyl, China, and Trump’s 2025 Tariffs
11
Federal Register. Modifying Reciprocal Tariff Rates To Reflect Trading Partner Retaliation and Alignment
12
The White House. Joint Statement on US-China Economic and Trade Meeting in Geneva
13
SCOTUSblog. Learning Resources Inc v Trump
14
Supreme Court of the United States. Learning Resources Inc v Trump, No. 24-1287
15
SCOTUSblog. Trump v VOS Selections
16
The White House. Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Closes De Minimis Exemptions
17
New York Times. Trump Tariffs De Minimis
18
Hogan Lovells. De Minimis Customs Exception for Small Packages to End in August 2025
19
USTR. USTR Extends Exclusions China Section 301 Tariffs
20
The White House. Adjusting Imports of Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaceutical Ingredients Into the United States
21
U.S. International Trade Commission. Harmonized Tariff Schedule