U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his trade war with China on Monday, imposing 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.
David Lawder and Jeff Mason of Reuters had the news:
Trump, in a statement announcing the new round of tariffs, warned that if China takes retaliatory action against U.S. farmers or industries, “we will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion of additional imports.”
The iPhone was not among the ‘wide range’ of products that Apple told regulators would be hit by the $200 billion round of tariffs in a September 5 comment letter to trade officials.
But if the Trump administration enacts a further round of tariffs on $267 billion in goods, engulfing all remaining U.S. imports from China, the iPhone and its competitors would not likely be spared.
Collection of tariffs on the long-anticipated list will start September 24 but the rate will increase to 25 percent by the end of 2018, allowing U.S. companies some time to adjust their supply chains to alternate countries, a senior administration official said.
Samuel Chamberlain of Fox News reported that the tariffs could rise to $517 billion:
If the administration pursues what it calls “phase three” of the tariff strategy, it would raise the total value of affected Chinese goods to $517 billion—covering nearly everything China sells the United States.
Trump already has imposed 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods. China has retaliated in kind, hitting American soybeans, among other goods, in a shot at the president’s supporters in the U.S. farm belt. Beijing has warned that it would hit an additional $60 billion in American products if Trump ordered more tariffs.
After a seven-week comment period, the administration announced that it had withdrawn several items from an earlier list of $200 billion in Chinese imports, including child-safety products such as bicycle helmets. And in a victory for Apple Inc. and its American customers, the administration removed smart watches and some other consumer electronics products from the list of goods imported from China.
At the same time, the administration said it is still open to negotiations with China.
Avie Schneider of NPR reported that the U.S. still wants to negotiate with China:
“These practices plainly constitute a grave threat to the long-term health and prosperity of the United States economy,” Trump said in a White House statement. Trump urged Chinese leaders to “take swift action to end their country’s unfair trade practices.”
Earlier Monday, White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said at the Economic Club of New York, “We are ready to negotiate and talk with China any time that they are ready for serious and substantive negotiations” to reduce trade barriers.
In remarks earlier in the day, Trump predicted an eventual deal with Beijing. “I think it’s going to work out very well with China,” he said. “They want to make a deal. But from our standpoint, it has to be fair. It has to take care of our workers.”
Chinese officials have previously said they were prepared to retaliate with higher tariffs of their own.
