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25%
“A week before Germany, France and Britain accused Iran of breaching the 2015 nuclear deal, the Trump administration privately threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on European automobiles if they didn’t, according to U.S. and European officials,” the Washington Post reports. “The U.S. effort to coerce European foreign policy through tariffs represents a new level of hardball tactics with America’s oldest allies and could result in the reimposition of sanctions against Iran.”
$2.4 billion
“The Trump administration proposed tariffs of up to 100% against $2.4 billion of French imports, saying the tariffs are justified because of a new digital-services tax imposed by France that weighs heavily on U.S. technology companies,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
22
“A manufacturing recession may already be under way in vulnerable swing states, challenging President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to deliver blue-collar jobs to his base,” NBC News reports. “Out of the 22 states with manufacturing job losses so far this year, some of those with the biggest percentage declines are states where Trump won by less than 5 percentage points.”
“Louisiana is among the most dependent states on tariffed metals, which is why we continue to be hopeful for a speedy resolution to the uncertainty of the future of tariffs.”
— Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) blaming tariffs for the bankruptcy of Bayou Steel in his state, Bloomberg reports.
$75 billion
“China announced that it will impose additional tariffs on a total of $75 billion of U.S. goods in retaliation for President Trump’s latest planned levies on Chinese imports,” Bloomberg reports. “Some of the countermeasures will take effect starting Sept. 1, while the rest will come into effect from Dec. 15, according to the announcement from the Ministry of Commerce. This mirrors the timetable the U.S. has laid out for 10% tariffs on nearly $300 billion of Chinese shipments.”
62%
A new Monmouth poll finds that 62% of Americans feel that U.S. consumers will bear the brunt of paying for new tariffs on Chinese goods, while just 23% say that Chinese producers will bear more of these costs. Likewise, 62% believe it is very likely that American companies which sell goods or use materials made in China will simply pass those costs onto domestic consumers.
$2,000
Politico: “If the president moves ahead with 25 percent tariffs on everything China exports to the United States, it could amount to a tax hike of more than $2,000 on the average American family, swamping the reduction they won from Trump’s signature legislative achievement — the 2017 tax law.”
$86 to $92
“A little more than a year after President Trump slapped a 20% tariff on imported washing machines, new research finds that American shoppers have been the ones to pay the price,” NBC News reports. “A study conducted by two researchers at the University of Chicago and a Federal Reserve Board Governor found that washers cost an average of 12% more after the imposition of the tariffs, or roughly $86 to $92 more per appliance.”
$891.2 billion
The U.S. posted a record-breaking $891.2 billion merchandise trade deficit in 2018, despite President Trump’s “America First” policies, the Washington Post reports. “Trump’s tariffs and tough policies have failed to shrink a trade gap that he argues represents a massive transfer of wealth from Americans to foreigners. He begins his reelection drive with a core campaign promise unfulfilled — and with a recent flurry of economic research showing that his embrace of tariffs is damaging the U.S. economy.”
15,000
General Motors said it will cut production of slow-selling models and slash its workforce by roughly 15,000 jobs, mostly in Michigan and Ohio, Reuters reports. “Cost pressures on GM and other automakers and suppliers have increased as demand waned for traditional sedans. The company has said tariffs on imported steel, imposed earlier this year by the Trump administration, have cost it $1 billion.”
