Trump's trade tariffs hurting US swing states: Report
The trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on America’s trading partners, including China, the EU, and Mexico, is damaging the economy of swing states crucial to Trump’s re-election, according to a new report.
The US states that are important in the 2020 presidential election are getting hit hard by the trade war in every sector of their economy, according to Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, an alliance of more than 150 associations representing various sectors of the economy.
“States like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania – they are agriculture states, but they are also retail states and they have a lot of small businesses, and they also have major manufacturers,” says Matt McAlvanah, spokesman for the alliance.
“What we’ve seen is that those states are being hit hard and there isn’t any sector of their economy that has been spared,” he said.
Trump’s decision to launch multiple wars with US trading partners including China, Canada, Mexico and the EU has resulted in nearly $5 billion in additional tariff costs for these key swing states, according to Tariffs Hurt the Heartland.
The ongoing trade battle with China stands out as being particularly painful for farmers, businesses and consumers, the report said.
US soybean exports to China plunged 82 percent from August 2018 to March 2019 compared to a year earlier, after China imposed 25 percent tariffs on American goods in retaliation for Trump’s round of tariffs in 2018.
“The trade war has had enormous costs. We understand that China has been a bad actor, but that exports of farmers and increasing prices for small businesses, should have nothing to do with addressing China’s trade abuses,” says McAlvanah.
Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports to the US are expected to cost American households up to $1,000 a year, according to an estimate by JPMorgan published last month.
Trump has shown no signs of backing down as two new rounds of tariffs are set to hit Chinese imports on October 15 and December 15.
The trade war between the world’s two largest economies, which has dragged on for 14 months, has increased the specter of a global recession.
Trade experts and government officials say the trade war runs far deeper than tariffs and could take years to resolve.
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