CLEVELAND — The trade war with China is rapidly escalating after President Trump announced another increase of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
This latest increase comes after China retaliated against the first increase, raising tariffs on $75 billion worth of American goods. The Chinese government is planning to put tariffs of 25% on American-made vehicles, and 5% on auto parts by mid-December. And with Ohio being home to several auto manufacturing plants, experts say the effects of this trade war are sure to be felt right here at home.
In a series of tweets Friday, Trump announced those tariff increases, from 25% to 30% $250 billion worth of goods and 10% to 15% on another $300 billion worth.
“We're having a little spat with China. And we'll win it. We've put a lot of tariffs on China today as you know they put someone up. We put a lot on them. We're up to about five hundred and fifty billion dollars. They've been hitting us for many, many years for over five hundred billion dollars a year,” President Trump said.
Trump seemed to be raising the stakes in a direct response to China’s own moves, tweeting China should not have put new Tariffs on "75 BILLION DOLLARS of United States product.”
According to Chinese officials, those tariffs would cover thousands of items including coffee, industrial chemicals, and other building materials.
Juscelino Colares, an associate dean at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, says that Ohio could potentially take a hit.
“Well obviously Ohio is a is a big manufacturing state as well as an agricultural state. So on the manufacturing side, you have major producers of specialized steels and other manufacturing products that are going to be affected by this, you know, tit for tat, exculpatory strategy on both on both sides,” Colares said.
According to the Ohio Development Services Agency, more than one million vehicles were assembled in the state in 2018.
The Association of Global Automakers says the tariffs puts American jobs at risk – and when China imposed tariffs last year, U.S. vehicle exports were cut in half.
The pressure is also on for farmers with tariffs on crops like soybeans, wheat, and corn.
“As we go in the future, if you have countries like Russia, if you have countries like Brazil, if you have countries like Argentina and Australia, that are now picking up the slack from US exports of agricultural foodstuffs, if they increase production to further supply that market, then those markets for U.S. farmers will know will never come back,” Colares said.
Both the United States’ and China’s first round of tariff increases are set to kick in on Sept 1.
