Saturday’s report by The Wall Street Journal suggests that President Trump has given a go ahead to his aides to implement a fresh $200 billion tariffs ahead of scheduled trade talks with China. This can happen as soon as Monday this week. The latest tariff will cover a range of consumer goods and but it will be set a lower limit at 10%, which is below an original figure of 25% suggested by the administration.
The lower tariff serves as two purposes. With the lower base, Trump can threaten to hike tariff again to force Beijing to negotiating table. Secondly, it can also help Republicans ahead of the midterm elections by making sure the tariff does not adversely affect US consumers’ spending ahead of the Christmas season. President Trump has already signaled that he will not back down on his threat.
