Donald Trump has been cautioned against starting a trade war by many experts, but as usual the President of the United States has refused to listen. Now we’re seeing the backlash as other countries respond with similar tariffs.
Earlier today, China announced that it would respond to Trump’s increased tariffs on Chinese goods by placing retaliatory tariffs on $6o billion of U.S. imports. The Chinese Ministry of Finance stated that these tariffs would be placed on “5,207 American goods upward of 25 percent” if Trump went through with his promise to impose 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports. The Chinese Ministry of Finance released a statement on its website that said:
The United States has deviated from the consensus of the two sides on several occasions, unilaterally escalating trade frictions, seriously violating the rules of the World Trade Organization, undermining the global industrial chain and the free trade system, substantially harming the interests of our country and the people, and will also include the United States.”
China also said, “If the U.S. is willing to go its own way and implement its tariff increase measures, China will implement the above-mentioned tariff increase measures” and promised to “defend its legitimate rights and interests, and to counter the escalation of trade friction through counter-measures.”
Trump and his team have only managed to escalate the tension. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said:
Instead of retaliating, China should address the longstanding concerns about its unfair trading practices, many of which are laid out in USTRs 301 report.”
Unfortunately, this is likely to just get worse because the numbers just keep increasing. Last month, Trump imposed tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese goods, which inspired China to respond with the like. Thanks to Trump’s inability to work with others, we know this is not going to end well.
Featured image via screen capture
