5 Mar 2018

Trump's tariffs threaten trade war, China reacts

From Morning Report, 7:27 am on 5 March 2018

China has responded to Donald Trump's threat of a trade war with a warning that it won't sit idly by if its economy is hurt by new protectionist policies by the United States. The US President openly talked of starting a trade war late last week when he announced stiff new tariffs on imported steel and aluminium. He tweeted: "Trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don't trade anymore-we win big. It's easy!" Mr Trump also threatened to impose a tax on EU-made cars. His comments have drawn strong criticism from the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and trading partners including Canada and China. Professor of Applied Economics at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University and a former senior economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, Steve Hanke, has described Mr Trump's proposed new tariffs as a "horror".