President Trump announced on Twitter Thursday that he will impose a new 10 percent penalty on $300 billion worth of imports from China beginning September 1. The new penalty means that almost all goods imported from China to the United States will now face tariffs. Trump first rocked the U.S.’s critical trade relationship with China in May when he hiked tariffs to 25 percent (from 10 percent) on $250 billion of Chinese goods. China responded by saying a trade deal would not be reached unless the existing duties were reversed. Trump appears to have taken the threat in stride.
“Our representatives have just returned from China where they had constructive talks having to do with a future Trade Deal. We thought we had a deal with China three months ago, but sadly, China decided to re-negotiate the deal prior to signing,” Trump wrote of the May negotiations. “... The U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country.” The tariffs could increase the cost of a significant amount of consumer products in the second half of the year.
Read it at Bloomberg
