A trade war between the world’s two largest economies officially began on this morning as the Trump administration followed through with its threat to impose tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products, a significant escalation of a fight that could hurt companies and consumers in both the United States and China.
As The New York Times reports, the penalties, which went into effect today, prompted quick retaliation by Beijing. China says it immediately put its own similarly sized tariffs on an unspecified clutch of American goods. Previously, the Chinese government had said it would tax pork, soybeans and automobiles, among other goods.
In a statement, China’s Ministry of Commerce says the United States “has launched the biggest trade war in economic history so far.”
The retaliatory tariffs from China will fall especially hard—affecting more than 25% of a county’s economy—in nearly 20% of the counties that voted for President Donald Trump in 2016, affecting eight million people, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Only 3% of the counties that voted for Hillary Clinton, with a total population of 1.1 million, would be so heavily hit. In contrast, only 8% of counties that voted for Trump, have protective buffers for more than a quarter of their economy.
On Thursday, Trump showed no signs of backing down from his fight, saying aboard Air Force One that the first wave of tariffs on $34 billion in goods would quickly be followed by levies on another $16 billion of Chinese products. Trump continued to threaten Beijing with escalating tariffs on as much as $450 billion worth of Chinese goods.
For now, it is unclear how—or whether—the trade war might conclude. Trump’s threats have been met with vows from China to retaliate, a stalemate that will require one side to blink first in order to avoid a protracted fight.
With no official talks scheduled between the two countries and disagreements within the Trump administration about how best to proceed, a quick resolution seems increasingly unlikely.
Read full story on the trade war and the full story on how different U.S. counties will be affected.
