Tag: China tariffs

Kudlow acknowledges U.S. consumers, not China, pay for tariffs on imports

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow acknowledged Sunday that American consumers end up paying for the administration’s tariffs on Chinese imports, contradicting President Trump’s repeated inaccurate claim that the Chinese foot the bill.

In an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” two days after U.S.-China trade talks ended with no news of a deal, Kudlow was asked by host Chris Wallace about Trump’s claim.

“It’s not China that pays tariffs,” Wallace said. “It’s the American importers, the American companies that pay what, in effect, is a tax increase and oftentimes passes it on to U.S. consumers.”

View the complete May 12 article by Felicia Sonmez on The Washington Post website here.

Minnesota’s soybean sales could take big hit if China tariffs proceed

The following article by Jim Spencer was posted on the Star Tribune website June 22, 2018:

Bob Worth loaded soybean seeds into his planter on the family farm on May 17 in Lake Benton. In the past when trade wars have been waged too often agricultural businesses have suffered, he said. Credit: David Joles, Star Tribune

President Donald Trump touts his trade policy as long-overdue action to help America’s workers and industries, but some economists warn that tariffs he has placed or is threatening to place on China and Chinese retaliation to them could actually bolster other countries at the expense of the U.S.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in the case of Minnesota’s vital agricultural staple, soybeans. The state ranks fourth in the country in all agricultural exports. Soybeans, as Worthington, Minn., farmer and American Soybean Association director Bill Gordon puts it, are the “golden egg,” accounting for 30 percent of the total. Minnesota’s farmers exported $2.1 billion worth of soybeans in 2016, according to government statistics. Most of them went to China.

If the Chinese proceed with a threatened 25 percent import tariff on U.S. soybeans in retaliation for 25 percent protective tariffs Trump placed on a variety of nonagricultural Chinese products, Minnesota soybean growers and others across the country face a loss of 69 percent of Chinese sales, said Purdue University agricultural economist Wallace Tyner, who analyzed data for the U.S. Soybean Export Council. Continue reading “Minnesota’s soybean sales could take big hit if China tariffs proceed”

White House Hits China With New Tariffs, Ramping up Trade War

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website June 15, 2018:

‘This situation is no longer sustainable,’ Trump says

The White House on Friday announced it is slapping tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods in response to alleged intellectual property theft, another escalation in President Donald Trump’s trade-related acts against allies and rivals alike.

“This situation is no longer sustainable. China has, for example, long been engaging in several unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology,” President Donald Trump said in a statement released Friday morning that formally announced 25 percent import penalties on some Chinese-made products.

Since taking office, Trump has publicly touted his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a reflection of his apparent belief that foreign policy is in large part dependent on the personal relationships between heads of state. He did the same Friday, saying his “friendship with Xi” and U.S.-China relations “are both very important to me.”

“Trade between our nations, however, has been very unfair, for a very long time,” Trump said Friday. “China has, for example, long been engaging in several unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology.” Continue reading “White House Hits China With New Tariffs, Ramping up Trade War”