Aug 23, 2019 - Economy

Trump escalates tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports

President Trump said he would raise tariffs against China on Friday in the aftermath of China's newly announced tariffs and a steep stock market drop.

What's happening: Trump said on Friday that $250 billion worth of goods and products from China would be taxed at 30% instead of 25%, starting Oct. 1, and the remaining $300 billion worth of goods will be taxed at 15%, instead of 10%.

The big picture: China announced earlier on Friday that it would levy retaliatory tariffs ranging from 5% to 10% on $75 billion of U.S. goods in two batches on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15.

  • China also said it plans to spike its tariffs on U.S. automobiles back up to 25% by December, after making progress on the issue during G20 talks between Chinese President Xi Jingping and Trump.

Earlier on Friday, Trump painted Powell and China as the 2 biggest enemies of the U.S. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 623 points after Trump's tweets, or 2.37%. The Nasdaq lost 3%, and the S&P 500 was off 2.59%.

Why it matters: White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on CNN's "State of the Union" last Sunday that tariffs on Chinese goods aren't hurting American consumers, despite reports to the contrary from researchers at Harvard, the University of Chicago, the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve of Boston and others.

  • But, but, but: On Aug. 13, the impending 10% tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports were delayed through Dec. 15 for products, including cellphones, laptops, game consoles, toys and some apparel. The move aimed to help accommodate the holiday rush to ship products from China, easing the financial burden on U.S. importers.

Go deeper: Stocks plunge after Trump's trade tweets

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