CHINA/JOBS/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Toymakers breathed a little easier this week when President Trump announced plans to delay tariffs on many goods from China — but their relief may not last long. The delay pushes a new 10 percent tariff on some Chinese imports to December from September, and allows companies and retailers to avoid paying an additional tax on the goods they’re bringing into the United States for the all-important holiday shopping season. Yet toymakers are already looking ahead to next year’s holiday season, and fretting about the crippling uncertainty that the president’s on-again, off-again trade policy has created for them…Mr. Trump and his advisers have urged business leaders to stay focused on the larger picture: that the administration is trying to secure a historic trade deal with China. They say that China has gamed economic rules for decades, leading to the loss of millions of American manufacturing jobs, and that the United States must do what it can to change the behavior now.”
–Ana Swanson, “‘It’s Just a Nightmare.’ Despite Tariff Delay, Toy Makers Are Worried,” The New York Times online, August 15, 2019