President Donald Trump sought to win fairer trade policies for the US as he ignited a trade war with China last year. But the effects of his tariffs have increasingly fallen on Americans, rippling through supply chains and putting pressure on prices across the country.
The US plans to begin extending those import taxes over the weekend to nearly all Chinese products, an escalation that would affect far more consumer products than ever before. The Trump administration this month appeared to acknowledge that the $300 billion worth of new tariffs could hurt businesses and consumers at home, delaying a portion of them until after the bulk of the holiday shopping season.
A 15% tariff on nearly half of those products — including clothing, food, and thousands of household items — is still scheduled to take effect on Sunday. The rest were delayed until December 15, temporarily shielding some electronics such as cellphones and laptops.
Trump also announced this month that he would raise the tariff rate on the $250 billion worth of products already targeted to 30% from 25% in October. China has retaliated against the Trump administration by targeting thousands of American exports, particularly agricultural goods.
Escalations in the yearlong dispute are expected to be felt in every region of the country. But states highly exposed to trade with China are poised to be hit particularly hard.
The Census Bureau publishes annual figures on international trade for each US state and Washington, DC, including the top 25 countries by total import and export value for each state.
According to its data from 2018, the most recent year available, four states — Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and South Carolina — exported a higher dollar value of goods to China than to any other country.
📷Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from US Census Bureau
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