On 22 February, AP reported on the US Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. The court struck down the sweeping tariffs; this might change the thawing relations between the two countries. Additionally, China will approach this ruling cautiously as it moves towards a trade truce. This has also upended months of trade truce and back and forth between the two countries. Director of China program at the Stimson Center, Sun Yun said: “It will give China a moral boost in their negotiations with Trump’s team ahead of the summit, but they are prepared for the scenario that nothing actually changes in reality.” Trump, furious with the decision said: “China had hundreds of billions of dollars in surpluses with the United States. They rebuilt China. They rebuilt the army. We built China’s army by allowing that to happen,” and that “I have a great relationship with President Xi, but he respects our country now.” Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said: “Tariffs and trade wars serve neither country’s interest.” And called for both countries to work together and provide certainty and stability in US-China relations. The ruling noted “President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were illegal. The majority concluded that the IEEPA does not grant the president authority to impose broad import taxes.”

What are the tariffs about?
As soon as Trump took office in 2025, he invoked the emergency power law and issued 20 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods, citing that China has failed to curb the flow of fentanyl drugs. That in turn has led to the loss of hundreds of Americans. He then imposed reciprocal tariffs on many countries, and on China, the largest, 34 per cent. This led to a series of retaliatory actions between the two countries. This was eventually halted after China restricted the export of critical minerals. There have been a series of trade truce talks, and the deadline to reach a decision was pushed forward due to a lack of agreement. In between, TikTok was divested from its Chinese owners in the US, with the ratio of 70-30. 70 per cent now under US firms and the rest with Chinese firms. This deal also had a positive impact on trade and economic relations between the two countries. Trump is scheduled to visit China in April.

What has been China’s response? 
On 23 February, China’s Ministry of Commerce informed that they will closely monitor the US’s latest tariff actions and firmly safeguard their rights and interests. They also urged the US to remove all additional unilateral tariffs imposed on its trading partners. The ministry said: “China is conducting a comprehensive assessment of the ruling and its potential implications. It reiterated its long-standing opposition to all forms of unilateral tariff increases, stressing that trade wars produce no winners and protectionism offers no way forward.” On fentanyl related tariffs it said: “Facts have repeatedly shown that China and the United States both benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation.”

References
DiDi Tang, “Ruling against Trump’s tariffs creates new uncertainty in US trade relations with China,” AP, 22 February 2026
“China urges U.S. to revoke unilateral tariffs after U.S. Supreme Court ruling,” CGTN, 23 February 2026