China Will Fire Back if Trump Goes Through with 45% Import Tariff on Chinese Products

Donald Trump’s rhetoric during his campaign played a huge role in his chances of being elected as President of the United States. These extreme claims gathered support by those who were tired of the status quo and desired change. One of Trump’s claims was of a 45% import tariff on all Chinese goods being imported into the US. The tax on Chinese goods can also negatively affect the sales of US goods as well as Apple iPhones. According to the Global Times (Chinese newspaper), “A batch of Boeing orders will be replaced by Airbus. U.S. auto and iPhone sales in China will suffer a setback,” and as a response the Chinese government will take a “tit-for-tat approach” to combat the change in the trade between the two countries. So if we do happen to raise the taxes on imported goods from China to 45% then only time will tell how China will respond to the change.

Luckily, the laws in the US limit tariffs to 15% on all imports and will last for up to 150 days if put forth by the President. Therefore, the chances of Donald Trump imposing the 45% tax on all of China’s imported goods is unlikely. In 2009 there was a tax tariff on imported tires from China of 35% and as a response China raised taxes on goods coming in from the US. According to the Global Times the trade between the US and China will be paralyzed as a result of the tax tariffs. This would further hurt our relations with the second largest economy in the world (China housing an $11.3 trillion economy) and in effect be detrimental to both economies.

So far with President-elect Donald Trump proposing different plans in relation to his claims while on the campaign trail, we can’t be certain whether or not he was serious about imposing the 45% tax tariff on imported goods from China. Regardless, it would be good to keep in mind the results in proceeding either way.