More Tariffs On China, More Head Scratching From Economists

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A couple weeks ago, after trade talks fell apart, President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports from 10% to 25%. The tariffs apply to a third of everything — about $250 billion worth of products per year — that we import from China.

The U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) starts with "Frozen retail cuts of meat of swine" and then continues for a couple by announcing plans to jack up tariffs on about $60 billion worth of American stuff. Trump, in response, is now threatening to apply a 25% tariff on the remaining two-thirds of Chinese imports that aren't on the U.S. list. That could mean a big tax on basically everything that the U.S. imports from China, with the exception of pharmaceuticals, some medical goods, and various minerals.