The Trade War Begins: U.S. and China Tariffs Take Effect
*By Alisha Haridasani*
It’s happening.
A fierce trade war between two of the world’s largest economies set off early Friday, after the U.S. officially implemented tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods and Beijing immediately responded in kind.
President Donald Trump warned on Thursday, before the tariffs went into effect, that the U.S. could end up taxing every single Chinese item imported if Beijing retaliates. That would be worth $500 billion.
China, however, didn’t blink and blamed the U.S. for launching “the biggest trade war in economic history so far.”
While U.S. markets didn’t seem to react to the news at the open, the impact of the economic tit-for-tat will likely sweep across corporate supply chains in both America and China, weighing down bottom lines and consumer wallets.
“It’s becoming conventional wisdom at this point that the benefits of corporate tax cuts is being offset by the uncertainty around the trade war,” said Axios reporter Erica Pandey.
“We can see impacts as small as a small price hike for consumers, or the businesses could choose to eat the costs and we could see losses of jobs.”
The Trump administration’s tariffs specifically target high-tech products in an attempt to punish China for intellectual property theft. That could have knock-on effect on [millennial consumers](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-the-trade-war-will-affect-millennials), said Pandey.
“Some of the goods on the chopping block include e-bikes, e-scooters, e-cigs, and everything ‘e,’ and smart home devices,” said Pandey. “So it’s the tech devices that are overwhelmingly used by young people that are not often discussed but that could go up as much as $100 per unit with these new tariffs.”
China’s tariffs target America’s agricultural industry, hitting soybeans, poultry, corn, wheat, rice, and beef, with the intention of crippling farmers’ support for Trump.
One slice of the agricultural industry is already feeling the pinch: [cheese producers](https://cheddar.com/videos/u-s-cheese-producers-in-crossfire-of-trade-war). American cheese makers in recent years have relied heavily on exports to Mexico and China, both countries that have now levied retaliatory taxes on the dairy product, said Wall Street Journal reporter Heather Haddon.
Before the tariffs kicked in, dairy exports had hit a record high in April, doubling from nearly a decade ago, according to Haddon's reporting.
With the new trade barriers in place, cheese makers are struggling to find a market for their products. "They can't just take this cheese that was made for Mexico and then just and sell it to folks in North Carolina or wherever," said Haddon.
"At the same time we've got record high cheese in storage right now. There's quite a lot of supply in the U.S. so it's also not like the supply can just go domestically."
Adding to the cheese makers problems are the perishable nature of their product, which would only compound their losses.
"Some of them are starting to contemplate shifting to cheeses that can be held for longer, that can be aged, that benefit from ageing, if this tariff situation continues."
President Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the fourth time this year. Biden and Putin spoke for two hours about the massing of Russian troops and materials near the Russian border with Ukraine. Various outlets have reported that the U.S. has intelligence that Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine in the next few months. Both countries said the call was productive, but the situation remains tense.
Hagar Chemali, foreign policy expert and host of "Oh My World!" on YouTube, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll indicated that Hispanic voters are up for grabs for the upcoming midterm elections, with 41 percent of respondents saying they would vote for Democrats and 44 percent for Republicans. Bryanta "Bre" Maxwell, a Democratic Strategist, former political director for Jaime Harrison's senate campaign, and principal and CEO of Indigo Consulting, LLC, joined Cheddar to break down the numbers and to dive into what this specific electorate is looking for as the balance of power in Congress hangs in the balance in 2022.
Vice President Kamala Harris received impressive amount of media coverage in January for making history. However, the media attention waned significantly and some are now even saying she has almost disappeared from public view. Reecie Colbert, founder of BlackWomenViews Media, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss more.
If you thought you heard the last of the Mueller report back in 2019, you'd be wrong. While the bombshell report was the biggest story in Washington for years, much of the report remained redacted. Our friends at BuzzFeed News weren't satisfied, so they sued to have certain passages unredacted. They notched another win when a federal appeals court ordered ten passages from the report to be released.
Matt Topic, BuzzFeed's attorney in the case, and Jason Leopold, reporter at BuzzFeed News, join Cheddar Politics to discuss.
The U.S. reported its first confirmed case of the omicron variant in California on Wednesday. Scientists and health officials are racing to understand the variant, with the WHO saying it's still too early to determine whether it's more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to vaccines than other variants. Omicron has pushed members of the WHO to commit to start talks over a "gobal pandemic treaty" for future pandemic preparedness.
Priti Krishtel, co-founder and co-executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
Wednesday was not a good day for those who believe in abortion rights in this country as the Supreme Court heard arguments on a Mississippi abortion law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The majority of the court appears poised to roll back abortion rights, and the questions from the conservative justices seemed to indicate the law for nearly 50 years is likely to change.
Jessica Mason Pieklo, senior vice president and executive editor of Rewire News Group, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss Wednesday's hearing.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, has been busy since completing his prison sentence in November. He's getting into the NFT space, selling his federal prison badge and the original manuscript of his book "Disloyal" as NFTs. Cohen joined Cheddar to discuss his latest venture and why he thinks there is still much to be revealed about his case.
Jonathan Adler, Law Professor at Case Western Reserve University, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Tuesday's ruling and provide legal context to recent battles over vaccine mandates.
Carlo and Baker wrap up the week talking about the Biden economic boom that no one seems to notice, a verdict in the Jussie Smollett case, the first Starbucks union in America and the pleasures of the "dude nod."
