CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The U.S and China are in a trade war. Here’s a quick timeline of recent events:
- First, President Trump imposed a 104% tariff on imports from China.
- Then, China retaliated against the tariff and imposed an 84% tariff on U.S exports.
- In response, Trump has added another 20% to the original tariff on imports from China.
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi Economics Professor Patrick Crowley called it a classic trade war. So why the tariffs in the first place?
“To make it cheaper in other words to produce the goods here compared to producing them in China,” Crowley said.
But with China’s recent retaliation, manufacturing more products locally won’t be a walk in the park.
“Its really not very productive because what happens is that the goods that are traded between the two countries just get priced out to the market in each country or the country says we’re not going to bother, we’ll go somewhere else to buy our products,” Crowley said.
With China’s new announcement on a tax on U.S exports, Crowley said the local everyday consumer won’t see any change for a while. But U.S exports to China support over 89,000 jobs in Texas and over 2,500 jobs in the 27th Congressional District alone.
The U.S exports things like oil and gas and grains to China. 6% of Texas’ exports go to China, with 5% of all goods from Corpus Christi to Bastrop also go to China.
But that’s exports. When it comes to imports from China, that’s where Crowley said neighbors might feel it in their wallets a bit more.
“It’s only things that are going to get put on the boat, put on the ship that will bear that tariff. It’s going to affect consumer prices, so we will see higher prices for made in China products,” Crowley said.
Crowley said he believes if both leaders talk, the situation between the two countries will improve. But for now, the tariff war continues.
“At the moment, they’re not talking. All they’re doing is reacting to each other ion a negative way,” Crowley said.
Both the U.S and China are large factors in the global economy. The U.S. and China tariffs are ongoing and continuously changing.
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