If you step onto a farm in the American midwest today, particularly one specializing in soybeans, you are sure to get an earful regarding the trade war between Beijing and the White House.
The longstanding feud between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping has all but crippled American agriculturalists, as the Asian behemoth refuses to cede the right of way to the world preeminent superpower. Knowing that squeezing US farmers is a surefire way to agitate wide swaths of conservative America against a republican President, China has been stalling in their trade negotiations in hopes that a democratic President will make negotiations more lenient for Beijing come 2020.
Simply put, China wants to go back to wheeling and dealing with a pushover, as opposed to President Trump.
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This stall tactic seemed to be cemented into the international economic landscape these last few weeks, with the White House having toned down their rhetoric in regard to China as a result.
Then Beijing turned bold.
Hopes for easing trade tensions between China and the U.S. ran aground the reality of Chinese resistance to reform Friday when China said it would impose new tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. products.
The tariffs will range from 5 percent to 10 percent and cover the U.S. goods not covered by earlier rounds of tariffs. In addition, China will move forward with plans to impose tariffs on U.S. vehicles and auto parts.
The new tariffs are clearly retaliation for the Trump administration’s decision to move forward with tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods. The Chinese tariffs will take effect in two waves, the first on September 1 and the second on December 15. Those are the same dates the new U.S. tariffs are set to be imposed.
The maneuver rattled the stock market on Friday, and looks to have spurred action by the Federal Reserve as well.
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