5/10/2019

CHINA/TARIFFS/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The more President Trump escalates his trade war with China, the more American shoppers will notice higher prices in their favorite grocery stores, hardware shops and big-box retailers. On Friday [5-10-19], the Trump administration increased tariffs that Mr. Trump imposed last year on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent, from their previous rate of 10 percent. The official $200 billion tariff list starts with ‘frozen retail cuts of meat of swine’ and ends with ‘monopods, bipods, tripods and similar articles of aluminum.’ In between are 194 pages of products that you can find on store shelves across the country. Economists and business owners expect the tariff increases to hit consumers in two ways. Stores that were already passing on the cost of the 10 percent tariffs will now pass on a higher cost. And businesses large and small that previously tried to shield customers from the smaller tariffs will now find it almost impossible to avoid passing some or all of that tax on to Americans who buy their products.”

Jim Tankersley, “How Trump’s Tariffs on Chinese Goods Will Hit Your Shopping Cart,” The New York Times online, May 10, 2019