GYEONGJU, South Korea — President Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to lower his 20% fentanyl tariff on China — saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping is poised to make a “big step” when they meet Thursday after negotiators drafted a “framework” agreement this week.
“I expect to be lowering them because I believe that they can help us with the fentanyl situation. They’re going to be doing what they can do,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he traveled to South Korea, where he will meet with Xi.
Trump indicated he’s also unlikely to impose a threatened 100% additional tariff on Chinese goods, which would have taken effect on Nov. 1 in protest of Beijing’s new export restrictions on products made with rare-earth and critical minerals.
President Trump said that he plans to lower his 20% fentanyl tariff on China. AP“We’re doing very well with rare earth, as you know, and we’re, I think, going to make a big step with fentanyl,” he said.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who led negotiations on the framework, told ABC News on Sunday that China is likely to delay its new export rules, which could throttle global supply of high-tech magnets, semiconductors and batteries, “for a year while they re-examine it.”
Bessent told CBS News, also on Sunday, that China is expected to announce plans to resume US soybean purchases, which Beijing heavily tariffed in retribution for the American fentanyl levies, causing economic pressure on US farmers.
Trump imposed the 20% fentanyl tariff in February due to the fact that the largely China-source drug killed approximately 330,000 Americans over the past five years, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
“We have been talking to them, we’re not just walking into a meeting cold,” the president said.
“I think we’re going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China, and a lot of problems are going to be solved.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping has previously said he will halt fentanyl imports, which instead increased. via REUTERSTrump predicted a successful meeting as he was heading to South Korea to participate in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) events. On his way there, Air Force One got a stunning view of Mount Fuji — Japan’s tallest peak.
Air Force One was then escorted into South Korea by two US and two Korean F-16s.
Air Force One passes Mount Fuji in Japan en route to South Korea. REUTERS
F-16 fighter jets escort Air Force One into Busan, South Korea. REUTERSTrump did not specify what exactly China might do to curb illicit fentanyl shipments. He is considering reducing the fentanyl tariff from 20% to 10%, officials leaked to the Wall Street Journal.
That would bring the average tariff on Chinese goods from 57.6% to 47.6% — close to the current 50% rate Trump has applied to India and Brazil.
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that’s often mixed into other drugs or counterfeit prescriptions. It can kill in extremely low doses and has disproportionately stricken younger Americans.
Xi previously committed to Trump during his first term that he would crack down on fentanyl by imposing the death penalty on exporters — but exports instead skyrocketed at the end of 2020 as the US-China relationship crumbled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The drug killed approximately one in every 1,000 Americans in the five-year period ending in April, the most recent month for which CDC data are available.
Fentanyl killed roughly one in every 1,000 Americans in the past five years. REUTERSXi again committed to halt the flow of fentanyl at a summit with then-President Joe Biden in November 2023.
Since the Biden meeting, overdose deaths have dropped — with roughly 44,000 Americans dying between March 2024 and April 2025, down from 68,000 in the prior 12-month period — though there’s debate about whether that’s the result of fewer susceptible victims given the high prior body count.
Fentanyl and its precursor chemicals are mostly sourced from China and then smuggled into the US either through the international mail and shipping systems or over the border.
Trump told The Post last Thursday that “the first question I’m going to be asking [Xi] about is fentanyl.”
“They make $100 million selling fentanyl into our country — $100 million. They lose $100 billion with the 20% tariff,” he said. “So it’s not a good business proposition.”
China has rejected blame for the fentanyl crisis in the US, with the country’s foreign ministry saying in February, when Trump imposed the tariffs: “Fentanyl is America’s problem. The Chinese side has carried out extensive anti-narcotics cooperation with the United States and achieved remarkable results.”
