The Trump administration's trade war with China, characterized by escalating tariffs, poses significant challenges to American businesses, particularly farmers. China's retaliatory tariffs, reaching up to 84 percent on certain US imports, are expected to severely impact numerous sectors.
While the US imports more goods from China than vice-versa, China's retaliatory measures have the potential to cause substantial harm to US companies successful in the Chinese market. These tariffs affect a wide range of goods, from aviation and medical imaging to agriculture, leading to a predicted slowdown in trade.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's seemingly dismissive response, "So what?", reflects the administration's belief that the US holds an advantageous position. However, the far-reaching consequences of China's tariffs suggest a more complex reality.
Sean Stein of the US-China Business Council highlights the broad impact of the tariffs, emphasizing the significant slowdown in trade across various sectors. The "everything" covered by the tariffs indicates a substantial disruption to the US-China trade relationship.
After China unveiled steep retaliatory tariffs on American exports on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a sharp and somewhat surprising response: “So what?”
The question underscored the Trump administration’s argument that America has the upper hand in a trade war with China given how reliant its economy is on exports to the United States.
The United States buys far more goods from China than China buys from the United States. But Beijing’s decision to retaliate against President Trump’s punishing tariffs by raising levies on American imports to 84 percent could sting more than Mr. Bessent let on.
“American companies that have been selling to China, and have been enormously successful doing that, are not going to be able to do that because of Chinese retaliation,” Sean Stein, the president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said in the hours before Mr. Trump ratcheted up his tariffs again.
“Tariffs on the Chinese side and the U.S. side cover everything,” Mr. Stein added, meaning everything from aviation to medical imaging to agriculture would be affected and “trade is going to slow,” he said.
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