President Trump’s tariffs on metals and Chinese goods have cost U.S. businesses and consumers a combined $13 billion in 2018, according to a study released Wednesday.
The analysis, by the market research firm Trade Partnership Worldwide and commissioned by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, an ad-hoc group of trade associations seeking to roll back the levies, found that U.S. exports sank last year due to retaliatory tariffs set by China and other countries. Overall, exports declined by $15.7 billion, or 14 percent, last year, but exports of products not subject to retaliation increased by $119 billion, about 10 percent, indicating that companies could still sell abroad if the field was level.
“This data shows the trade war has done lasting damage to the American economy,” said Tariffs Hurt the Heartland spokesman and former Rep. Charles Boustany. “Regardless of what comes of negotiations, punishing ourselves by taxing our own businesses and consumers with tariffs has been a clear mistake.”
The report claims that Trump’s steel tariffs alone have cost American companies $3.1 billion in increased costs, including $364 million in December. The American Iron and Steel Institute reported Wednesday that steel imports declined 12 percent last year, or about four million metric tons, citing Census Bureau data.
The study comes the same day that the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade deficit rose to $621 billion in 2018, an increase of $68.8 billion from the year before and the highest level since 2008.
The Trump administration has placed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports, 10 percent on aluminum imports, and 10 to 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods. Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, Fla., later this month for one-on-one talks to resolve the trade war and allow the tariffs to be lifted. White House officials have indicated that the administration is seeking enforcement provisions in any deal that would allow tariffs to return.
