Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross dismissed growing fears Tuesday about the Trump administration’s new tariffs and escalating trade war with China, saying that the impact will not be noticed by most people.
“Nobody is going to actually notice it at the end of the day,” Ross said on CNBC, arguing that the impact will be “spread across thousands and thousands of products” and therefore unlikely to significantly impact most consumers.
Ross claimed that the impact would be small compared to the overall economy. “If you have a 10 percent tariff on another $200 billion, that’s $20 billion a year. That’s a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of 1 percent [of] inflation in the U.S.,” he said.
Trade groups and many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been arguing that the tariffs will entail painful disruptions.
President Trump announced tariffs of 10 percent on $200 billion worth of products from China Monday, rising to 25 percent next year, and threatened an additional $267 billion “if China takes retaliatory action.” That was on top of tariffs on $50 billion worth of goods previously enacted, meaning Trump could impose tariffs on more a half-trillion dollars worth of Chinese goods, a figure that trade analysts say would effectively cover all imports. That’s on top of tariffs of 25 percent on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum, both of which are primarily directed at China.
Beijing responded Tuesday by announcing tariffs tariffs of 5 to 10 percent on $60 billion worth of U.S. goods, on top of prior tariffs of between 5 and 25 percent on $60 billion worth of U.S goods.
Business groups have urged the White House to ratchet down the tension. “With every day that passes without progress on a rules-based, bilateral trade agreement with China, the potential grows for manufacturers and manufacturing workers to get hurt. No one wins in a trade war,” said National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons.
[Related: China hits Trump where it hurts with retaliatory tariffs on US natural gas]
