A low-cost, low-power UHF RFID reader transceiver for short-distance applications supporting ISO 18000-6C is presented in this paper, which is implemented in 0.18μm CMOS process. The reader transceiver is composed of a RF transceiver, a digital baseband, a MCU and host interface. In order to be used in consumer products, LDO modules are integrated so that the reader can works with lithium battery. Measured results show that the output power of the transmitter is 21dBm. With the proposed low noise transmitter and baseband low noise amplifier, the sensitivity of RX is -55dBm@-1dBm carrier leakage. The chip occupies 14mm2 and consumes 471mW from 3.3V power supply.