On Thursday, a new round of tariffs is due to go into effect between the U.S. and China. The two countries continue crafting financial trade barriers in the back and forth over business.
In the week ahead, each country will begin levying a 25 percent tax on $16 billion of goods from the other. Chemicals, tractors and industrial equipment are among the 279 Chinese-made products facing the tax. Polystyrene, fertilizer, machinery and railway freight cars all face the new tax if they are brought into the American market.
The chemical and plastic tariffs will find their way into the supply chain for all kinds of items used by companies and consumers alike: everything from coffee lids to yogurt containers to PVC pipes and aircraft tank sealants. China, meantime, will tax U.S.-made cars, buses and medical instruments, among other items.
Another round of tariffs is under consideration by the Trump administration. The comment period of that list of Chinese imports ends in early September. If it moves forward, it would increase the tax from 10 percent to 25 percent on another $200 billion of Chinese imports. China has threatened its own round of taxes on $60 billion of American goods in retaliation. All this followed the first round of eye-for-an-eye tariffs in July.
