All latest news

How the 100% tariffs on China will unfold in four parts.

Oct 10, 2025

Anthony Sardain

CEO and Founder

๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ% ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—–๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ ๐˜„๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ (based on my work with hundreds of factories in China and brands in the US)

๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ-๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ-๐—”๐˜„๐—ฒ ๐—ข๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐— ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ ๐—•๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜‡ โ˜‘๏ธ

  • For Trump, the chaos is useful. He wants the opposition to be reacting to his moves.

  • Reassert dominance (e.g. impossible to believe, restart trade talks)

  • Create panic in markets, shifting leverage (S&P 500 fell 2.7%)

๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—•๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† โ˜‘๏ธ

Trump already threatened to cancel the expected summit with Xi Jinping. The confusion itself is leverage. Beijing officials didnโ€™t anticipate the action or that the trade summit could get cancelled.

๐—•๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—น ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐Ÿ•™

Trump set November 1 for the 100% tariff to go live, giving China 1 month to move back from the new export controls on rare earth elements (China scheduled export controls to start on Dec 1).

  • Agree to small concessions (e.g. quota limits, voluntary export restraints)

  • Offer face-saving agreements

  • Make unrelated political or diplomatic concessions (Soybean sales to China)

Trump will then claim victory, even a cosmetic win can be sold as a masterstroke.

๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐˜€ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ/๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ฑ/๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฑ, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐Ÿ•™

In the end, tariffs will be:

  • Paused

  • Lowered dramatically from 100% before November 1st

  • Replaced with โ€œnegotiated agreementsโ€

The broader Trump message stays: โ€œ๐˜‹๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด.โ€

๐—ง๐—Ÿ;๐——๐—ฅ

The tariffs will be softened/paused for face-saving agreements. Disruption was the point not the policy. Trump gets to claim strength, force concessions (real or not), and walk away declaring success, regardless of where the dust actually settles.

โญ ๐—œ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚โ€™๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ, ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฏ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐˜€ (๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜€๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐˜‚๐—ฝ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป).

Or just hit us up. Cavela can help you pivot suppliers in days instead of months.

Start sourcing today

The Cavela team is here for any questions.

The world's first virtual sourcing agent meets the largest global manufacturing network

ยฉ 2025 Cavela. All right reserved.

The world's first virtual sourcing agent meets the largest global manufacturing network

ยฉ 2025 Cavela. All right reserved.

The world's first virtual sourcing agent meets the largest global manufacturing network

ยฉ 2025 Cavela. All right reserved.