Business trade associations and conservative groups expressed alarm Friday at President Trump’s threat to ramp up the trade war with China with another $267 billion in tariffs, urging the administration not escalate the existing fight any further.
“The notion that the president is going to add an extra $267 billion worth of tariffs is grossly irresponsible and possibly illegal,” said Jose Castaneda, spokesperson for the Information Technology Industry Council. He added: “[W]e cannot overstate the potential economic harm of such a decision.”
The National Association of Homebuilders said the tariffs would “counterproductive by raising costs for millions of American consumers.”
Nathan Nascimento, executive vice president of Freedom Partners, a free-market group funded in part by the Koch brothers, said, “Simply put, more tariffs will mean more economic pain for American consumers and businesses.”
The possibility that Trump was bluffing or merely speaking off the cuff was not much comfort to many. “We have always taken the president seriously on tariffs, and this latest threat is no different,” said an official at one trade association who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the threat.
Trump proposed the additional tariffs while talking to reporters on Air Force One. The administration has not formally started the process for them, though Trump had spoken about adding an additional $200 billion in tariffs to China earlier in the summer.
“The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office continues to run their process,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told the Washington Examiner. “No final decisions on specifics have been made.”
Those tariffs, whether $200 billion or $267 billion, would be on top of the existing 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in worth of Chinese goods the administration has instituted and the 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion more in Chinese goods the administration recently concluded public hearings on. The latter $200 billion in tariffs in expected to be announced soon, possibly before the end of the day.
Should Trump follow through with the latest threat, that would place more than half a trillion dollars worth of Chinese goods under tariffs. The administration has also instituted 25 percent tariffs on steel imports and 10 percent tariffs on aluminum ones, both policies mainly directed at China.
China has hit back by placing tariffs of between 5-25 percent on $60 billion worth of U.S goods and has warned of additional responses.
