New Delhi: US President Donald Trump threatened a 50 percent tariff on Beijing for importing shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.
He made the comments in an interview on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo for Fox News, adding that while he doubted China would continue such actions, “if we catch them doing that, they get a 50 percent tariff—which is a staggering amount.”
“Other people, but yes, China too. If we find China, because I hear news reports, so a news report doesn’t mean much to me because they’re so fake, but I hear news reports about China giving the shoulder missiles, what’s called the shoulder missile, anti-aircraft missile,” he warned.
Despite the sharp rhetoric, Trump, in his usual style, suggested that backchannel relations with China might temper the situation. “I have a relationship with them,” he said, adding that he did not believe Beijing would continue supplying weapons to Iran.
The US president earlier Wednesday threatened to impose sweeping 50 percent tariffs on imports from any country found to be supplying military weapons to Iran, escalating economic pressure just hours after agreeing to a fragile two-week ceasefire with Tehran.
The warning, delivered through a post on his social media platform Truth Social, did not name specific countries.
In his Sunday interview, though, Trump confirmed that China was among the nations he had in mind.
The threat marks a return to tariffs as a central tool of US foreign policy, even as military tensions in the region appear to be rising.
Both China and Russia have denied recent involvement in supplying weapons to Tehran, though US officials have long accused both countries of assisting Iran’s defence systems.
Trump’s proposal, however, faces legal uncertainty. In February, the US Supreme Court ruled that his broad use of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was unlawful, curtailing his ability to impose sweeping trade restrictions without congressional approval.
It remains unclear how the administration would implement the new tariffs under existing legal constraints.
The tariff threat comes amid stalled diplomacy. High-level talks between US and Iranian officials—the first direct negotiations in a decade—recently concluded in Islamabad without an agreement, despite lasting for 21 hours. The central dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme remained unresolved.
Hours after US V-P J.D. Vance left Pakistan, Trump announced plans for a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz while accusing Iran of “extortion” by threatening maritime traffic. He added that the United States Navy would begin intercepting vessels and clear the IRGC’s mines in the waterway.
“Iran will not be allowed to profit off this illegal act,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, warning that any attack on US forces or commercial ships would be met with overwhelming military force.
In his exclusive interview, when asked about the blockade, Trump said, “We are going to be blockading. It will take a little while, but it will be effective pretty soon. We had the meeting; we were well represented…. they wanna have nuclear weapons. They are not going to have nuclear weapons. I have been saying that for 30 years, before I joined politics. Most countries should not be allowed to have. But that country will not have nuclear weapons.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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