US duties on Chinese imports expected to remain elevated, says Greer

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer signals that China will continue facing higher tariffs than other trading partners, with broad implications for global markets and crypto.

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Add us on Google by Editorial Team May. 26, 2026

The US isn’t planning to ease up on China anytime soon. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has made clear that tariffs on Chinese imports will likely stay higher than those imposed on other countries, reinforcing the view that elevated duties are less a negotiating tactic and more a permanent fixture of American trade policy.

The new normal in US-China trade

Greer, who has served as US Trade Representative since February 2025, framed the tariffs as a strategic tool rather than a temporary measure. The underlying logic is familiar: China’s trade practices, from overcapacity to restricted market access, justify a baseline of duties that exceed what the US charges its other trading partners.

A US-China Board of Trade was established following a Trump-Xi summit in May 2026 in Beijing, tasked with overseeing tariff reductions on roughly $30 billion in goods. Those reductions target non-sensitive categories like agriculture, energy, and medical devices. The broader, more consequential tariff rates remain untouched.

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China has also committed to purchasing US agricultural goods exceeding $10 billion annually over the next three years, including existing soybean agreements.

The administration continues to wield Section 301 investigative powers, the same legal framework that authorized the original wave of tariffs targeting China’s trade practices. Potential actions under this authority include additional tariffs and quotas.

Why tariffs matter for crypto

Tariffs function as an inflation input. When the cost of importing goods rises, that cost eventually works its way through supply chains and into consumer prices. Persistent inflation expectations, in turn, shape Federal Reserve policy on interest rates. And interest rate expectations are one of the single most powerful forces acting on risk assets, including crypto.

Historical patterns back this up. Major US-China tariff announcements have repeatedly coincided with spikes in volatility across both traditional and crypto markets. Traders have learned to treat trade policy shifts as leading indicators of broader financial conditions.

What this means for investors

Greer’s comments remove a potential positive catalyst. Any hope that a comprehensive US-China trade deal might unleash a wave of optimism across global markets, crypto included, just got dimmer. The administration is not moving toward broad de-escalation.

The $30 billion in targeted reductions through the US-China Board of Trade is worth monitoring, but the scale is modest relative to the total volume of US-China trade.

For crypto traders specifically, the key variable to watch is whether tariff dynamics start feeding into inflation data in ways that force the Fed’s hand. If consumer prices remain elevated partly because of trade-related cost pressures, the path to rate cuts gets longer. And a delayed rate-cutting cycle is historically unfavorable for speculative assets.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.