Experts fear that ratcheting up the cost of importing Chinese goods will drive up prices and sap confidence
The Trump administration’s move Friday to ratchet up a year-long trade war with China risks stifling economic growth as American consumers pay more at the register, farmers cope with a shrinking export market and business sentiment wanes, experts warned.
« President Trump’s move to impose new U. S. tariffs on China and escalate the U. S.-China trade war threatens to derail an emerging recovery in business confidence, » economists at Oxford Economics said in a note to investors.
U. S. and Chinese officials ended two days of trade talks without a deal on Friday. Asked by reporters at the White House how the meeting had gone, U. S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said tersely, « Constructive. » Asked if another meeting was planned, he said, « Nothing planned as of now, » before walking away.
More than half of all imported goods from China, the U. S.’s biggest trading partner last year, are now subject to tariffs imposed by the White House. Tariffs are paid by domestic companies, and when such levies increase the higher costs are often passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Oxford Economics estimates that Friday’s tariff hike will cut U. S. economic output by $62 billion by next year, or 0.3 percent of gross domestic product. If tariffs are eventually imposed on all products the U. S. buys from China, as Mr. Trump has threatened, American and global GDP would fall 0.5 percent by 2020, according to the investment research firm. That amounts to $625 billion in lost economic activity.
Tariffs imposed by the Mr. Trump over the last year, including the latest round, could cost an average family of four around $767 a year, one study from advocacy group Trade Partnership estimated in February. The group also forecast that U. S. employment could decline.
« It’s official, we’re freaked, » the American Apparel & Footwear Association said in a statement after the U.
