BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhuanet) – American farmers, companies and workers will be attacked by Trump administration’s announced tariffs, said John Ross, Senior Fellow at Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.
He made the remarks when talking about recent China-U.S. trade tensions with Xinhuanet.
“While Trump administration’s announced tariffs are negative for China, they are also seriously negative for the U.S.,” he stressed.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday asked the U.S. Trade Representative to consider 100 billion U.S. dollars in additional tariffs on products imported from China.
Responding to this, China said it will fight "at any cost" and take "comprehensive countermeasures" if the United States continues its unilateral, protectionist practices, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).
U.S. business groups have also expressed their concerns that the rising U.S. protectionist trade policy against China will have serious impact on American farmers.
Max Baucus, a former senator from the U.S. state of Montana and U.S. ambassador to China, said American farmers "are going to get squeezed" by the tariff proposal "from all sides."
"First, the tariffs the U.S. announced today will make the (agricultural) equipment and inputs they rely on more expensive. Then they'll face new tariffs on their exports when China retaliates," said Baucus, who now serves as the co-chairman of the farm lobbying group Farmers for Free Trade.
John Heisdorffer, president of the American Soybean Association, also said that a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans into China will have a devastating effect on every soybean farmer in America.
"But there is still time to reverse this damage, and the administration can still deliver for farmers by withdrawing the tariffs that caused this retaliation," he added.
