President Trump intensified the U.S.-China trade war, announcing a 104% tariff on Chinese goods, which will take effect April 9 at 12:01 AM ET, while China vowed to “fight till the end” and filed a WTO dispute against the U.S. reciprocal tariff. China is also willing to strengthen political mutual trust with the EU and India. All of these are signaling a deepening trade war with major trading partners.
U.S. Trade Representative Greer defended the aggressive tariff strategy, stating that companies heavily reliant on imports from China and Asia will face pricing challenges. Furthermore, he also dismissed concerns about inflation, while Trump has also made it clear that no tariff exemptions will be granted in the near term, according to Greer. Especially when Trump already signaled that he will bring discussion on foreign aid and the US military presence for a better trade negotiation.
As a matter of fact, Trump believes that the US will be able to make in-house iPhones.
Existing Tariff on Cars, Lumber, and Steel
Trump highlighted the effects of existing tariffs on cars, lumber, and steel as he claimed that this would accelerate US domestic manufacturing/production. Other than this, he is also pledging unwavering support for the coal industry, citing that “We will give a guarantee the coal business can’t be terminated” while announcing billions of dollars of investment for next-generation coal technology.
For now, what we are seeing is that both Trump and China show no signs of backing down, which could prolong the slowdown.
