Monday evening the White House announced that it would add more tariffs to $200 billion worth of Chinese goods if China imposes tariffs on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods.
However, China announced these tariffs as a response to the 25% tariffs on $50 billion Chinese goods that the U.S. announced on Friday.
China is also not the only one the U.S. intends to raise tariffs against. Some people believe that the U.S. is trying to start a trade war.
U.S. President believes these tariffs are necessary in order to force these other countries like China to end their corrupted practices.
“Further action must be taken to encourage China to change its unfair practices, open its market to United States goods, and accept a more balanced trade relationship with the United States,” Trump said in a statement, according to CNN.
The new tariffs that the U.S. first announced are expected to come in two rounds. The first round will impose tariffs on more than 800 Chinese exports (around $34 billion worth), starting July 6. The second round will affect around 280 exports sometime later.
Meanwhile, China’s tariffs would be on vehicles, agricultural products, etc.
The potential second batch of new U.S. tariffs would have to go to through the same process (public consultation and comment) that the first new tariffs experienced.
One issue though is that China exports more to the U.S. than the U.S. exports to China. $505 billion of Chinese exports are shipped to the United States, while only $130 billion of U.S. exports travel to China.
China cannot impose as many tariffs on U.S. goods that the U.S. can impose on Chinese goods. If China wants to successfully fight back, then it might potentially have to strike the U.S. in other ways that don’t involve physical goods.
Ultimately, this war might not end up so well for both countries and could change the landscape of not just their countries but the rest of the world as well.
