BREAKING NEWS: Trump threatens tariffs on additional $267 billion in Chinese goods

Old_Joe

Well, this should certainly help the financial markets:

Trump threatens tariffs on $267 billion in Chinese goods, expanding the trade war to all Chinese imports entering the U.S.

"President Trump said on Air Force One Friday that he is ready to impose tariffs on $267 billion in Chinese goods, on top of the additional $200 billion that he said will likely be hit with tariffs in a matter of days."

"The tariffs that Trump has imposed and threatened add up to $517 billion, more than the $505 billion in Chinese goods that entered the country last year."

The Washington Post article does not discuss whether this action might induce China to be more helpful in applying pressure to North Korea.

Ted

@MFO Members: A modest rebound in stocks midday Friday came to a sudden halt after President Donald Trump said the U.S. had tariffs ready to go on another $267 billion in Chinese goods, on top of tariffs on $200 billion in goods the administration is now preparing.

The comments made on Air Force One on Friday overshadowed already tenuous optimism in the stock market from a mostly healthy August jobs report. Uncertainty on the ramifications from escalating trade clashes and concerns about a downdraft in emerging economies have undercut investor sentiment all week.
Regards,
Ted

Source: MarketWatch:

Old_Joe

@Ted: Thanks for the add.

Mark

You know, a smart person would know or attempt to learn when to get out of their own way.

Old_Joe

I've been thinking about that last sentence in the news article: "The tariffs that Trump has imposed and threatened add up to $517 billion, more than the $505 billion in Chinese goods that entered the country last year."

So does that mean that if they try to ship us $505 billion again this year, we'll bill them for $517 billion in tariffs? Are we then going to bill them for the difference? If so, not only will they not ship us anything at all, but they'll actually owe us $12 billion in addition just for trying?

Truly Alice in Wonderland stuff. Makes the head spin.

msf

"the United States has wildly high tariffs, such as 350 percent on smoking tobacco, 130 percent on peanuts and 99 percent on prepared groundnuts", even before any of this nonsense.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/08/there-are-nuggets-of-truth-to-what-trump-says-about-trade/?utm_term=.86f8ac749f37

$517/$505 just means that on average, a 102.4% tariff is added to all exports (or 204.8% to half the exports, or ...)