While the Trump regime is currently considering a package of tariffs on Chinese goods totaling anywhere from $200 to $500 billion, the White House announced yesterday evening that they will impose tariffs on $16 billion in goods in the coming weeks.
This latest round of tariffs includes motorcycles and industrial equipment among other things.
From Bloomberg:
The new list covers products ranging from motorcycles to steam turbines and railway cars. China’s trade surplus with the U.S. stood at $28.1 billion, close to the record-high in June, data released Wednesday showed.
It will be the second time the U.S. slaps duties on Chinese goods in about the past month, despite complaints by American companies that such moves will raise business costs and eventually consumer prices. The U.S. levied 25 percent duties on $34 billion in Chinese goods on July 6, prompting swift in-kind retaliation from Beijing.
Yes, as Bloomberg points out, we imported a near record amount of goods from China in June and that's not going to change as a result of Trump's trade war.
We may import more or less goods from China on a month to month basis for a wide range of reasons, but we will always have a trade deficit with China. Our service and consumer driven economy will always import more than it exports, but Trump's trade war will make imports more expensive.
To make that point clear, look at this latest round of tariffs.
Some products were removed from the initial list because there are literally no American manufacturers who make them.
Among the products removed from the earlier list on $16 billion of imports were shipping containers, including those used by freight companies. Schneider National Carriers Inc. and other firms testified during a hearing July 24-25 in Washington that there are no U.S. manufacturers and that the containers are almost exclusively made in China. [...]
The final list did not remove tariffs on fertilizer distributors, which Jane Hardy, chief executive officer of Brinly-Hardy Co. In Indiana, testified on July 24 could be the “nail in our coffin” for her firm after 179 years in business.
The arbitrary nature of Trump's trade war means your business could be doomed or saved based on little more than whims.