President Trump has backed down on his threat to impose new tariffs in his trade war with China, and will once again allow U.S. companies to sell to Huawei. He announced the big about-face after a long meeting with President Xi Jinping at the G-20 on Saturday in which the two leaders agreed to restart trade-deal negotiations.
The president said that existing U.S. tariffs on goods from China, which currently target $250 billion worth of exports, would remain in place, but he would hold off (for the “time being”) on imposing new ones.
Ahead of the last round of trade talks, the president had vowed to impose tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of goods if China didn’t agree to a deal. He didn’t, but kept up with the threat anyway. The tariffs, if implemented, would have meant targeting almost everything China exports to the U.S., which, paired with China’s retaliatory tariffs, could have had a significant negative impact on the global economy, U.S. businesses and consumers, and President Trump’s chances reelection chances.
The president said that existing U.S. tariffs on goods from China, which currently target $250 billion worth of exports, would remain in place, but he would hold off (for the “time being”) on imposing new ones.
Ahead of the last round of trade talks, the president had vowed to impose tariffs on an additional $300 billion worth of goods if China didn’t agree to a deal. He didn’t, but kept up with the threat anyway. The tariffs, if implemented, would have meant targeting almost everything China exports to the U.S., which, paired with China’s retaliatory tariffs, could have had a significant negative impact on the global economy, U.S. businesses and consumers, and President Trump’s chances reelection chances.
