US politicians may face voters’ ire as China hits US farm products over Donald Trump’s tariffs
Trump’s tariffs strategy risks sparking further retaliation from China, warned a US Democratic lawmaker from Washington state, China’s biggest US trading partner
US President Donald Trump risks destabilising businesses across America and sparking further retaliation from China by using tariffs as a response to alleged theft of trade secrets, warned a US Democratic lawmaker from Washington state, China’s biggest US trading partner.
Rick Larsen, a US House Representative from the second congressional district in the northwestern US state, said Trump’s attempt to punish China by hitting it with US$60 billion of punitive tariffs “is not the right choice”.
Politicians such as Larsen, who also a co-chair of the US-China Working Group in the US Congress, could face voter ire in major agricultural states after Trump’s anti-China mission provoked China to retaliate by levying punitive tariffs on some US$3 billion of goods.
Those goods include 128 US agricultural and steel products including fruit, wine, pork, steel pipes and recycled aluminium.
In 2016, Washington state exported US$16.5 billion in goods to China, up 300 per cent over 2005.