Trump announces 50% tariffs on nations supplying Iran with weapons

• Trump threatens 50% tariffs on all goods from countries supplying military weapons to Iran, with no exemptions, via a Truth Social post.
• Legal authority is unclear because the Supreme Court previously blocked Trump's use of IEEPA for tariffs. China and Russia are potential targets.
• The US is trying to maintain trade stability with China, despite concerns about technology and compliance, to secure access to rare-earth minerals.

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on April 8 that imports from countries supplying Iran with military weapons will face immediate 50 per cent tariffs with no exemptions, threatening the new duties just hours after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire with Tehran.

After more than five weeks of air strikes against Iran’s missile launchers, military installations and weapons industry, Mr Trump reverted to tariffs as leverage, using a social media post to warn China and Russia against restocking Tehran’s arsenals.

Beijing and Moscow have denied supplying any weapons recently, although allegations against Russia have persisted.

Earlier in February, the US Supreme Court stripped the US President of his fastest and broadest tariff authority, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, ruling that his broadest global tariffs imposed under the 1977 law were illegal.

“A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately, There will be no exclusions or exemptions!” Mr Trump wrote on the Truth Social site, without naming any countries.

China and Russia have helped Iran build military capacity to counter US and Israeli pressure, supplying missiles and air defence systems. That support appeared capped during the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

‘A China-related threat’

Reuters reported in February, before the first US and Israeli strikes on Iran, that Tehran was considering a purchase of supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles from China.

In March, Reuters reported that China’s top semiconductor maker, SMIC, had sent chipmaking tools to Iran’s military, according to two senior Trump administration officials.

“This is a China-related threat, the way I read it. And China will read it that way,” said Mr Josh Lipsky, vice-president and chair of international economics at the Atlantic Council.

Although drone and missile parts routinely flow from Chinese entities to Iran, evading US sanctions, Mr Lipsky said Mr Trump was unlikely to follow through with new tariffs in the near term because that would derail his planned trip to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China’s defence ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang on April 9 denied reports of Chinese firms providing Iran with chip equipment and satellite imagery.

“China has always been open and above board on the Iran issue, maintaining an objective and impartial stance, and has consistently worked to promote peace talks while never engaging in any activities that could fan the flames or add fuel to the fire,” Senior Colonel Zhang said in a statement.

“The international community can clearly see who is saying one thing and doing another, and who is creating war and conflict everywhere.”

On April 7, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Mr Trump would seek to maintain the current stability in the US-China relationship, to preserve US access to Chinese-produced rare-earth minerals and magnets while maintaining prior tariff levels. Mr Greer said Mr Trump wanted to avoid a “massive confrontation” with Mr Xi.

Alternative tariff tools

Of Mr Trump’s still available trade tools, an active “Section 301“ unfair trade practices action against Chinese goods from his first term would be the most likely vehicle for adding new tariffs quickly, Mr Lipsky said.

A more limited tool would be Section 232 of the Cold War-era Trade Expansion Act of 1962, aimed at protecting strategic domestic industries on national security grounds, but it would limit duties to specific sectors, lacking the broad economy-wide impact of the prior IEEPA-based tariffs.

Mr Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods over nearly eight years already have cut US imports from China sharply, from a peak of US$538.5 billion in 2018 to US$308.4 billion in 2025, with further declines recorded in January and February of 2026.

Russia has been another source of arms technology for Iran, but US imports of Russian goods also have shrivelled since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the wave of financial sanctions imposed on Moscow as a result of that move.

US imports from Russia, one of the only countries not subject to Mr Trump’s now-cancelled “reciprocal” tariffs, jumped 26.1 per cent to US$3.8 billion (S$393 billion) in 2025. These imports are dominated by palladium, which is used in automotive catalytic converters, fertilisers and their ingredients, and enriched uranium for nuclear reactors.

The Commerce Department already is moving to impose punitive tariffs on Russian palladium after an anti-dumping investigation. REUTERS