Although Trump has continued to pile more tariffs on top of his tariffs, because he heard you like tariffs, our trade deficit with China has continued to soar.
China's trade surplus with the United States reached a new record high in September according to China's customs administration.
From Reuters:
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s trade surplus with the United States surged to a record high of $34.13 billion in September, compared with $31.05 billion in August, Chinese customs data showed on Friday. [...]
For January-September, China’s trade surplus with the United States was $225.79 billion, compared with about $196.01 billion in the same period last year.
Trump's trade war has not slowed or reduced our trade deficit with China because we still need imports from China.
Ford Motor Co. is preparing to lay off over 20,000 workers and the company has lost $1 billion in profits because Trump's tariffs on imports from China have increased the cost of doing business. The cost of parts and materials has increased and the company has absorbed the cost in an attempt to remain competitive with other dealers. Tariffs are a tax on American consumers and Ford is paying that taxes.
And that's just one example. Major manufacturers across the country are facing a similar dilemma. Agriculture exports to China have also flat-lined, contributing to our trade deficit.
China doesn't need our soybeans, but we do need their industrial products.
If Trump imposes tariffs on $267 billion in additional goods, and if his previous round of tariffs on $200 billion in goods is allowed to increase to 25 percent on January 1st, things could get very ugly.