Tariffs levied by the United States and China against specific goods and industries began to have an effect on companies this weekend as the business media scrambled to assess the impact of the trade war.
Avery Anapol of The Hill examined the impact on soybean farmers:
The American Soybean Association (ASA) said in a statement that soybean farmers “rely heavily” on exports to China, and said that they lobbied Trump to reconsider the tariffs.
John Heisdorffer, an Iowa soybean farmer and president of the ASA, warned of the impact of the tariffs on farmers.
“Soybeans are the top agriculture export for the United States, and China is the top market for purchasing those exports,” Heisdorffer said in the statement. “The math is simple. You tax soybean exports at 25-percent, and you have serious damage to U.S. farmers.”Soybeans are among the U.S. products, along with orange juice, whiskey, electric cars and others, that are threatened by retaliatory tariffs from China.
The tariffs came in response to Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports, which went into effect Friday. Trump has been critical of China on trade, and his tariffs have prompted China to accuse him of starting “the biggest trade war in economic history.”
Michelle Toh of CNNMoney.com reported that more than 1,300 products are being affected:
The cost of the new tariffs can be found in the roughly 1,300 individual products that have suddenly become more expensive.
The additional taxes will ripple through supply chains, forcing companies in both countries to decide whether to take a financial hit themselves or pass it along to consumers. If demand drops, jobs will be in jeopardy.
Here are some of the goods in the firing line.
US goods hit by Chinese tariffs
Poultry
— Frozen beef
— Fresh or cold pork
— Dried, smoked or salted pork belly
— Frozen chicken nuggets
— Frozen whole duckFruit and vegetables
— Farming potatoes
Raymond Zhong of The New York Times reported that some Chinese consumers are worried:
Other shoppers sounded warier. Fresh American beef and other high-end imports — goods that are likely to become more expensive as more tariffs are imposed — lined the shelves.
“High-quality fresh food is already quite expensive, and with tariffs, prices will go up even further,” said Wan Yang, a 27-year-old seafood dealer who imports black cod and king crab from Alaska.
Health and hygiene concerns have led China’s increasingly well-off shoppers to prefer food imported from the United States or elsewhere.
“We buy imported goods because we feel they are safer to eat,” said Mike Zheng, 30, who was browsing the aisles with his 2-year-old son. “If there were domestic substitutes, then tariffs would be O.K. But domestic
