Trump's tariffs on over $250 billion in Chinese goods will automatically increase from 10 to 25 percent at the end of this month if the Trump regime doesn't take action and, according to the United Nations (UN), that could trigger a global economic downturn.
The UN's Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD] is warning that the tariffs will lead to instability and disruption as everyone from governments to corporations scramble to adapt.
“The implications are going to be massive,” Pamela Coke-Hamilton, head of international trade at UNCTAD, told a news conference. “The implications for the entire international trading system will be significantly negative.” [...]
“There’ll be currency wars and devaluation, stagflation leading to job losses and higher unemployment and more importantly, the possibility of a contagion effect, or what we call a reactionary effect, leading to a cascade of other trade distortionary measures.”
The United Nations trade conference also has bad news for Trump and others who believe this will somehow lead to a resurgence of manufacturing in the United States.
If Trump's tariffs are allowed to increase and if corporations reshuffle their supply chains to avoid the tariffs, officials estimate that only 6 percent of the imports they replace will be sourced from American companies.
U.S. companies would capture only 6 percent of the $250 billion of the affected Chinese exports, while Chinese firms would retain 12 percent, despite the higher cost of trade, the study said.
Other countries would capture an estimated 82 percent of the value of the $250 billion of Chinese exports and 85 percent of $85 billion of U.S. exports hit by the tariffs.
If buying Chinese goods becomes too expensive, we'll buy them from somewhere cheaper because that's the way the global economy works.
Just as well, there are some things we can only buy from other countries because we literally don't or can't grow it or build it here.