Trump Threatens to Impose Additional 25 Percent Tariffs on Countries Doing Business with Iran

Illustration of international trade. (Wikimedia Commons/qwesy qwesy)

JAKARTA - President Donald Trump said on Monday that countries doing business with Iran would face new US tariffs of 25 percent.

"Effective immediately, any country that does business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a 25 percent tariff on every and all business done with the United States," Trump wrote on Truth Social, CNN reported (13/1).

"This order is final and binding," he added.

Meanwhile, the White House declined to provide additional information on the tariffs and how the Trump administration plans to implement them, referring CNN to the president's post.

President Trump himself did not define what was included in the category of "doing business" with Iran in his post.

However, the upload raised a number of questions, including how these additional tariffs could be applied, which countries would be targeted, and whether services and not just goods would be subject to higher import duties.

However, this could also have an impact on goods from China, for example, Iran's main trading partners and the United States, will be much more expensive to import.

The announcement comes after the president raised the possibility of US military intervention to "save" anti-government protesters in Iran, hundreds of whom have been killed.

The new tariffs could mean a minimum tariff of 45 percent for goods from China compared to the current tariff of 20 percent.

Responding to Trump's announcement, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Monday night that Beijing "resolutely opposes all unilateral sanctions that violate the law" and that they would take "all necessary measures to protect its legitimate rights and interests."

"The tariff war and trade war have no winners, and coercion and pressure cannot solve problems," spokesman Liu Pengyu said in X.

It is known that in the first 11 months of 2025, China exported goods worth 6.2 billion US dollars to Iran and imported 2.85 billion US dollars, according to Chinese customs data.

That's not including oil purchases, which China does not disclose publicly. Analysts estimate China has accounted for more than 90 percent of Iran's oil trade in recent years, imported through intermediaries.

Last year's trade war between the United States and China rattled global markets, with Trump raising tariffs on Chinese goods to a peak of 145 percent last year. The current tariffs come after lengthy negotiations.

Besides China, India, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey are considered Iran's main trading partners.

Previously, President Trump doubled the import duties on goods from India this summer to a minimum tariff of 50 percent, seeking to punish the country for buying Russian oil. He threatened to impose similar tariffs on other countries that buy Russian oil, including China, its largest customer.

It is known that since taking office for a second term, President Trump has relied on a law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to push import tax rates.

However, the use of this new law is being challenged in the Supreme Court, with a ruling expected this month.

If the judges decide he has no legal authority to impose the tariffs, President Trump will not only lose his ability to adjust the country's tariffs without any restrictions, but the US may also be burdened with returning at least 130 billion US dollars of revenue from the tariffs.