The following article by Cody Fenwick was posted on the AlterNet website August 6, 2018:
Tag: Trump tariffs
China retaliates with tariffs on $16 billion worth of U.S. imports after Trump’s latest trade hit
The following article by David J. Lynch, Damian Paletta and Amanda Erickson was posted on the Washington Post website August 8, 2018:
China will impose 25 percent import tariffs on $16 billion of U.S. goods on Aug. 23, in response to the Trump administration’s additional proposed tariffs. (Reuters)
Nearly five months after President Trump first confronted China with tariffs over its trade practices, the two countries are further than ever from resolving their differences and appear to be digging in for what is likely to be a long and bruising conflict.
China said Wednesday that it would impose tariffs on an additional $16 billion in U.S. autos and energy products, retaliating for the Trump administration’s latest import levies on an equivalent value of Chinese goods.
Beijing signaled this week that it might target prominent American companies such as Apple if the trade dispute escalates. The iPhone maker relies upon China for one-fifth of its $229 billion in annual revenue, “leaving it exposed if Chinese people make it a target of anger and nationalist sentiment,” warned a commentary in the state-owned China Daily.
Trade Works. Tariffs Don’t.
NOTE: This is a source we don’t usually link to, but it’s telling that the business community is concerned with the damage a Trump trade war will do to American business.
The following commentary was posted on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website August, 2018:
The administration’s new tariffs threaten to spark a global trade war.
China, the EU, Mexico and Canada have already retaliated or announced plans to retaliate with billions of dollars in tariffs on American-made products.
Tariffs imposed by the United States are nothing more than a tax increase on American consumers and businesses–including manufacturers, farmers, and technology companies–who will all pay more for commonly used products and materials.
Retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries on U.S. exports will make American-made goods more expensive, resulting in lost sales and ultimately lost jobs here at home.
Steel Giants With Ties to Trump Officials Block Tariff Relief for Hundreds of Firms Image
The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the New York Times website August 5, 2018:
WASHINGTON — Two of America’s biggest steel manufacturers — both with deep ties to administration officials — have successfully objected to hundreds of requests by American companies that buy foreign steel to exempt themselves from President Trump’s stiff metal tariffs. They have argued that the imported products are readily available from American steel manufacturers.
Charlotte-based Nucor, which financed a documentary film made by a top trade adviser to Mr. Trump, and Pittsburgh-based United States Steel, which has previously employed several top administration officials, have objected to 1,600 exemption requests filed with the Commerce Department over the past several months.
To date, their efforts have never failed, resulting in denials for companies that are based in the United States but rely on imported pipes, screws, wire and other foreign steel products for their supply chains.
Trump makes bizarre claim that tariffs will help pay down the massive U.S. debt
The following article by Heather Long was posted on the Washington Post website August 5, 2018:
During his last news conference at the G-7 summit, President Trump told reporters that countries who retaliate against U.S. trade policy are “making a mistake.” (The Washington Post)
President Trump tweeted Sunday morning that his tariffs are “working big time” and made a bizarre claim that the money raised from these new import taxes will go a long way to helping pay down America’s large debt. (Short answer: That’s not what will happen).
Trump portrays the tariffs as a tax on foreigners, but the reality is that tariffs are taxes on U.S. companies and consumers. When a big U.S. retail chain or an equipment manufacturer has to pay 10 or 25 percent more to get steel from Canada or a certain part from China, that U.S. company has to pay the taxwhen it imports that item. U.S. businesses either eat that extra cost or pass it along to consumers.
There are already signs that prices are rising because of Trump’s tariffs. Coca-Cola is raising prices on its drinksbecause his aluminum tariffs are making its cans more expensive, the company says. Winnebago, maker of RVs, also has raised some of its prices, blaming higher steel and aluminum costs. Over time, U.S. companies are likely to switch suppliers or change their products to use less of the higher-costing goods, but that doesn’t happen right away.
Chinese Goods May Face 25% Tariffs, Not 10%, as Trump’s Anger Grows
The following article by Ana Swanson and Keith Bradsher was posted on the New York TImes website August 1, 2018:
WASHINGTON — President Trump escalated his trade war with China on Wednesday, ordering his administration to consider more than doubling proposed tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent, as talks between Washington and Beijing remain at a standstill.
Mr. Trump instructed the United States trade representative to look into increasing tariffs on Chinese imports like fish, petroleum, chemicals, handbags and other goods to 25 percent, a significant step in a dispute that is beginning to take a toll on industries and consumers in both countries. A final decision on the size and scope of the tariffs is not expected before September.
The effort to further punish China is being led by hard-line advisers to Mr. Trump, who believe inflicting painful measures on Beijing is the best way to force it back to the negotiating table on trade. But that approach is once again creating fissures within Mr. Trump’s own team, with his Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, adamantly opposed to ratcheting up the tariffs and Peter Navarro, a key trade adviser, advocating the higher duties, people with knowledge of the discussions said. Stephen K. Bannon, who left the White House last August, has also been counseling the president to pursue tougher tariffs, according to people familiar with his thinking.
If the Trade War Starts to Damage the Economy, Here’s How You’ll Be Able to Tell
The following article by Neil Irwin was posted on the New York Times website July 24, 2018:
Early indicators include executive surveys and futures markets.
There’s no question that some American companies are feeling the bite of the trade war that the Trump administration is waging against much of the world.
As others have reported, a Missouri nail factory is laying off peoplebecause of tariffs on imported steel; Harley-Davidson plans to move some production to Europe in response to retaliatory tariffs; soybean farmers face a loss of income resulting from new Chinese import taxes.
But it’s a mistake to assume that difficulties of individual companies and industries are the same as a force powerful enough to bend the overall trajectory of the United States economy.
Corporate Giants Jump Into Trump’s Tariff Fight
The following article by Sean McMinn was posted on the Roll Call website July 24, 2018:
Microsoft, Cisco among those that started lobbying on tariffs this year
President Donald Trump’s burgeoning trade war has prompted some big names to join the fight on tariffs.
Of the 20 largest spenders that indicated they were lobbying on tariffs in the most recent round of disclosure filings, nine of these companies or trade associations began doing so in the past year.
Google — which has spent about $11 million on lobbying so far this year, according to its reports to Congress — leads that list of newcomers. It reported lobbying for the first time on tariffs in the first quarter of this year. The tech giant specifically indicated it was lobbying the House and Senate on “China tariffs.”
Trump faces growing storm on car import tariffs at Commerce hearing
The following article by Andrew Mayeda and Ryan Beene was posted on the Los Angeles Times website July 19, 2018:
The procession of industry groups and foreign governments lining up to oppose President Trump’s car tariffs is starting to look like a rush-hour traffic jam.
“The importation of motor-vehicle parts is not a risk to our national security,” Ann Wilson, senior vice president of government affairs of the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Assn., told a public hearing Thursday on the auto industry. “However, the imposition of tariffs is a risk to our economic security that jeopardizes supplier jobs and investments in the United States.”
The Commerce Department is holding the hearing as it probes whether imports of passenger vehicles imperil U.S. national security. The administration has received extremely limited support for the idea that foreign cars undermine America’s ability to defend itself.
Trump Takes Heat on Car Tariffs as Industry Warns of Job Losses
The following article by Ryan Beene, Gabrielle Coppola and Andrew Mayeda was posted on the Bloomberg website July 19, 2018:
Industry officials push back against idea of duties on imports
President continues to criticize European Union over trade
Companies and governments from Europe to Asia are warning President Donald Trump that tariffs on car imports would hurt the U.S. economy, disrupt the global auto industry, and widen the rift between America and its closest allies.
Auto groups, industry workers and foreign governments condemned the idea of raising duties on cars at a public hearing Thursday in Washington. Speaker after speaker urged the administration to avoid sideswiping the very industry it wants to help. To drive home their point, autoworkers from Alabama to South Carolina pulled up to the U.S. Capitol in vehicles they helped build.
“The importation of motor-vehicle parts is not a risk to our national security,” Ann Wilson, senior vice president of government affairs of the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, told U.S. officials at the hearing. “However, the imposition of tariffs is a risk to our economic security that jeopardizes supplier jobs and investments in the United States.”