Yahoo Finance Trump’s tariffs are hurting US businesses more than foreign ones
US President Donald Trump has made a lot of fuss about cutting back the US’ trade deficit and penalising Chinese firms for their IP theft.
Accusing China of unfair trade practices, America moved to impose tariffs on Chinese exports more than a year ago, prompting retaliation from China, and back and forth it went.
This ‘tit-for-tat’ scenario is where we’ve found ourselves today, deep in the middle of a trade spat between the two super-nations.
But while Trump has claimed that the tariffs are to protect the interests of the US, it looks like the tariffs are hurting rather than helping Americans.
According to data from a coalition of US business groups fighting President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, US businesses paid an additional US $2.7 billion (or the equivalent of AU $3.8 billion) in tariffs in November 2018.
The group, which brands itself as ‘Tariffs Hurt the Heartland’ and includes the Americans for Free Trade coalition and Farmers for Free Trade, crunches tariff payment data nationally and by state.
The data is part of a monthly series called the Tariff Tracker, which the group releases in a tie-up with The Trade Partnership, a Washington-based international trade and economic consulting firm.
The monthly import data, it said, is calculated using numbers from the US Census Bureau, and the monthly export data is compiled using numbers from the Census Bureau and the US Department of Agriculture.
The November numbers are the latest government ones available due to the recent US government shutdown.
‘Double whammy’ for US firms
The group’s spokesman, former Republican congressman Charles Boustany, said the data shows that Americans, not foreign competitors, are the big losers in the trade war.
“US businesses are being hit by a double whammy of historic tax increases in the form of tariffs and declining exports as farmers and manufacturers lose opportunities in the overseas markets they rely on,” Boustany said.
The group also said retaliatory tariffs have severely impacted US exports. In November, US exports of products subject to retaliatory tariffs declined by US $4.1 billion (AU $5.8 billion), or 37 per cent, from the previous year, it said.
Hun Quach, vice president of international trade at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said raising tariffs on thousands of consumer products will cause massive disruption to retailers in an already uncertain environment.
US tariffs on US $200 billion (AU $281 billion) worth of imports from China are scheduled to rise to 25 per cent from 10 per cent if the two sides cannot reach a deal by a March 1 deadline. On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters in Beijing that talks between the two sides were going well.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News that Trump is weighing different possibilities on how to treat the March 1 deadline to reach a trade deal with China, adding that the final agreement depends on Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting in person.
The United States would escalate tariffs on Chinese goods if the deadline is missed, and likely prompt China to retaliate.
US and China’s trade spat has contributed to China’s slowdown, which has implications for four key Australian sectors.
–with wires
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