Trump’s stupid trade war explodes after China slaps US with tariffs
President Donald Trump is getting the trade war he always dreamed of.
On Monday night, China announced it will impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States on liquefied natural gas, coal, and farm machinery, according to The New York Times. China also said it will launch an investigation into Google, which could hamper the major American corporation’s ability to work with Chinese companies.
The retaliatory tariffs are China’s response to the blanket 10% tariff Trump imposed on the country, which he said was his punishment for China’s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis.
Placing 10% tariffs on all products from China will have sweeping negative consequences for Americans, who will now see companies—which pay the tariffs on imports—pass those increased costs down.
Economists say the universal 10% tariff on Chinese goods will raise the prices of consumer electronics, computer equipment, toys, jewelry, sporting equipment, and shoes, among other things CNN reported.
According to CNN, the United States imported $47 billion worth of communications equipment (think cellphones) from China, all of which is now subject to tariffs.
What’s more, expect the cost of your shoes to go up: 99% of all footwear sold in the United States is imported and mostly from China and Vietnam, CNN says.
In fact, American households can expect to pay an additional $800 per year if all of the tariffs Trump imposed on China, Mexico, and Canada went into effect, according to a study by the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit think tank.
To be sure, while Trump allowed the 10% tariff on all Chinese imports to begin, he backed off the 25% tariffs he sought to impose on Mexico and Canada—two of America’s biggest trade partners.
Trump halted the tariffs on Mexico after President Claudia Sheinbaum offered to send 10,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, something she had done before—during former President Joe Biden’s tenure—without threats that could have caused economic pain for American citizens.
“Mexico deployed this many troops to its border with the US in both 2019 and 2021, and last year ramped up migrant arrests enough to cause border crossings to drop by >50%,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, wrote in a post on X. “So this is not new. At all. And it won’t impact fentanyl trafficking, which is mostly done by US citizens.”
Trump also backed off proposed tariffs against Canada after that country offered the same deal it had offered in December to reinforce the border the country shares with the U.S.
“Trump is trying to repackage the status quo as a victory. That’s what the leaders of these foreign countries are learning,” The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell said on CNN. “You don’t actually have to give Trump anything. You have to let him announce victory on TV.”