Washington sources reported that President Donald Trump said he’s ready to impose tariffs on an additional $267 billion in Chinese goods on short notice, on top of a proposed $200 billion that his administration is putting the final touches on. Meanwhile the implementation of tariffs on $200 billion of products from China “will take place very soon depending on what happens,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “He hates to do this, but behind that there is another $267 billion ready to go on short notice if he wants.”
Furthermore US stocks erased gains after Trump’s remarks, with the S&P 500 Index falling by 0.3 percent to the lowest in two weeks by 1:26 p.m. in New York. Recently Trump tariffs threats, if he follows through, would more than cover the value of all goods the US buys from China, according to US government data from last year. Moreover the US imported $505 billion of Chinese products in 2017, Census Bureau figures show.
Moreover when levying duties on all Chinese purchases would hit and Hun
Quach, vice president of international trade for the Retail Industry Leaders
Association, said by phone “every aspect of our American lifestyle so the
clothes that we put on our back, the food that we eat, the cars that we drive,
the shoes that we wear”. Hence the Trump administration has already
slapped duties on $50 billion of Chinese exports since July, which spurred
immediate in-kind retaliation from Beijing.
