New round of tariffs could hit US consumers

Americans could soon find themselves paying more for goods they might not have known were imported from China.

It’s a potential consequence of a new round of tariffs the Trump administration is proposing to slap on Chinese imports as soon as September.

And it marks a new phase in the US trade war with China. Before now, the administration had deliberately avoided imposing tariffs on consumer goods to spare US shoppers from direct economic pain.

But late Tuesday, when the administration issued a list of 6,000 products worth $200 billion that it proposes to hit with 10 percent tariffs, it included consumer items ranging from baseball gloves to seafood, vacuum cleaners, toilet paper and burglar alarms.

The administration will hold hearings on the proposed list late next month. President Donald Trump is threatening to impose the tariffs in retaliation for duties that China slapped on $34 billion of US goods on Friday. Those duties, in turn, were a response to new tariffs the United States had imposed on China.

If China were to back down, the Trump administration might hold off on the newest tariffs. But economists say Bei- jing is unlikely to do so.

“Consumers will feel it and perhaps as early as Christmas,” said Mary Lovely, an economics professor at Syracuse University who studies trade.

On Friday, the administration imposed 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports. Consumer goods made up only about 1 percent of that amount.

But Tuesday’s list includes food and agricultural products, handbags, hats and furniture — a group of items that, by themselves, account for nearly one-quarter of the $200 billion in Chinese goods that would be subject to the new proposed tariffs, according to data compiled by trade research firm Panjiva.

Other products that would be affected include window-mounted air conditioners, Christmas lights, car parts, refrigerators and roughly $350 million of frozen tilapia filets, according to data from Panjiva. Of all the frozen tilapia the United States imports, roughly 83 percent, comes from China.

Economists are struggling to foresee any end in sight for the burgeoning trade dispute between the two largest economies. No high-level talks are being held, and none have been scheduled. /