We knew that China would retaliate for Trump's upcoming tariffs on all remaining Chinese goods; tariffs that will be imposed in two tranches of about $150 billion on September 1st and December 15th, and now we know how they will retaliate.
The Chinese government announced this morning that they will impose retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion in American goods by increasing current tariffs on American agriculture and re-imposing tariffs on other goods such as cars and trucks.
From CNBC:
The Chinese State Council said it decided to slap tariffs ranging from 5% to 10% on $75 billion U.S. goods in two batches effective on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15. Those dates happens to be when President Donald Trump's latest tariffs on Chinese goods are to take effect.
It also said a 25% tariff will be imposed on U.S. cars and a 5% on auto parts and components, which will go into effect on Dec.15. China had paused these tariffs in April. [...]
"In response to the measures by the U.S., China was forced to take countermeasures," the state council said in a statement.
Trump loaded up his diaper in response to the news this morning and unleashed a series of tweets that tanked the market even further.
Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
....better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
....your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States. Also, I am ordering all carriers, including Fed Ex, Amazon, UPS and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE,....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019
I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but Trump does not have the power to "hereby order" American companies to do anything at all.
White House aides right now offering no explanation for why President Trump believes he can “hereby order” American companies to do anything. Also, officials have no information about what the president may or may not be announcing this afternoon, per his Tweet. https://t.co/QbGwBnfduE
— Eamon Javers (@EamonJavers) August 23, 2019
Trump is an unhinged ignoramus and he's literally going to tweet us into a recession. The market dropped by 300 points after China announced a fresh round of retaliation and by 500 points when Trump threw a temper tantrum.
Depending on what Trump does next, all of our expectations for how his trade war will effect the economy could be obsolete. And we don't know what he will do, but it's possible he'll impose all of his upcoming tariffs on September 1st rather than wait to impose half of them after the Christmas shopping season. There is no legal mechanism that would prevent him from doing that. We'll just have to wait and see how he plans to fuck us all.
I wasn't planning to write anything today, but I couldn't let this pass by. It's too big and important to everything we've discussed here.