The Trade Conflict – One Year Later

Just over a year ago, on March 1, 2018, President Trump announced that he was using existing authorities to impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum.  This was the first in a series of actions taken by the Administration on trade that included a significant conflict with China. In Part I of this two-part series, we review the trade conflict after one year including retaliation of trading partner countries, impact on agricultural exports, and reaction in commodity prices.Among all retaliating countries, China has responded with the most expansive list of retaliatory tariffs on imports from the U.S.  More than 800 U.S. products, including almost all U.S. agricultural and food exports to China, are subject to additional tariffs of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, or a combination of these tariff levels. Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and the EU have each levied tariffs on between 8% and 14% of U.S. agricultural and food exports.