Impact on Nevada
Nevada will likely see very little direct impact, if any, from the tariffs China recently announced.
The 128 tariffs include pork, nuts and dried and fresh fruit.
“This will be more of a California concern than a Nevada concern. Nevada doesn’t export much of any of those,” said Nevada Farm Bureau Vice President Doug Busselman.
In 2017, total exports from Nevada to China were just over $804 million, which was an increase of 37.3 percent from 2016, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation.
“While food manufacturing is Nevada’s fourth-largest export to China, of the agricultural products being hit with tariffs none appear in Nevada’s Top 25 exports overall,” said David Schmidt, chief economist at the department.
With limited exposure in the products Nevada exports to China among the products on which tariffs have been imposed, Nevada would likely see very little direct impact, if any, from the tariffs China recently announced.
Nicole Raz bit of hope” that the tariffs can be reversed.
Jim Schumacher, co-owner of Schumacher Ginseng in Marathon, Wisconsin, said the 15 percent tax will hurt: “You’ve got to be price-competitive, even if you have the top-quality product. We’re definitely concerned. We hope something can be resolved.”
Trump campaigned on a promise to overhaul American trade policy. In his view, what he calls flawed trade agreements and sharp-elbowed practices by China and other trading partners are in part responsible for America’s gaping trade deficit — $566 billion last year. The deficit in the trade of goods with China last year hit a record $375 billion.
Growing more aggressive
In his first year in office, Trump’s talk was tougher than his actions on trade. But he has gradually grown more aggressive. In January, he slapped tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines.
Last month, he imposed duties on steel and aluminum imports — but spared most major economies except China and Japan.
Now he is moving toward steep tariffs to pressure Beijing into treating U.S. technology companies more fairly. In the meantime, his administration has lost two voices that cautioned against protectionist trade policies: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and White House economic adviser Gary Cohn.
“Given the increasingly hostile rhetoric backed up by tangible trade sanctions already announced by both the U.S. and China, it will take a determined effort on both sides to come up with a mediated compromise that tamps down trade tensions and allows both sides to save face,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.
If the dispute escalates, China can pick more vulnerable targets. In the year that ended last Aug. 31, America’s soybean farmers, for instance, sent $12.4 billion worth of soybeans to China. That was 57 percent of total U.S. soybean exports.
Brent Bible, a soybean and corn farmer in Lafayette, Indiana, has appeared in TV ads by the advocacy group Farmers for Free Trade, calling on the Trump administration to avoid a trade war.
“We’re kind of caught in the crossfire,” he said.