American businesses get nervous as Trump seeks even higher tariffs on Chinese goods

WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (APP):In a sign of further escalation in trade war with China, the Trump administration on Wednesday announced plans to target $200 billion in Chinese good with even higher tariffs than it proposed earlier, raising concerns among American businesses that it would hurt increasing number of consumer products.
President Trump has so far imposed a 25 percent duty on Chinese goods worth $34 billion and is preparing another installment to hit a further $16 billion in Chinese imports. These duties target mostly industrial products.
Lately, the Trump administration had hinted at imposing 10 percent tariffs that could hit $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. But, the Wednesday’s announcement of 25 proposed tariffs is more than double from the earlier proposal.
“Ten percent was bad, 25 percent is even worse… This new tranche hits so many consumer products, many of which have no sourcing alternative other than China,” a report by the online newspaper, POLITICO, quoted Christin Fernandez, vice president at the Retail Industry Leaders Association as saying.
Fernandez said that increasing the size of tariffs will only hurt American families and the millions of American retail jobs supported by the trade.
President Trump has in recent months many of America’s leading trading partners – Canada, Mexico and the European Union – by imposing import duties on steel and aluminum. These countries have retaliated with their own tariffs on US goods that have hit American consumers.
Last week, the Trump administration announced $12 billion in aid to farmers hindered by retaliatory tariffs. The aid will be used to buy crops from farmers suffered by these tariffs.
Agriculture groups have been calling on the Trump administration not to impose tariffs for fear of retaliation that has eventually happened.
Some groups have said they would lose tens of millions of dollars due to new tariffs imposed on American exports.
But, it is the escalating trade with China, which is making the American businesses more nervous as they see a much larger impact of these tariffs on US consumers.
Business sectors, including technology and chemical groups, have expressed alarm at the proposed move of targeting $200 billion worth of Chinese goods with 25 percent tariffs, saying the tariffs already imposed have raised
the costs for many US manufacturers due to retaliation by China.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement on Wednesday that the proposal to hit more Chinese goods with and an additional 25 percent tariffs “is intended to provide the administration with additional options to encourage China to change its harmful policies and behavior and adopt policies that will lead to fairer markets and prosperity for all of our citizens”.
Many experts fear that new proposed tariffs will effectively shut down trade and would force American companies to shift their supply chains out of China.
China responded to Trump’s initial tariffs by imposing 25 percent duties on American goods worth $34 billion, including soybeans and a multitude of other farm goods.