Trump administration officials have been considering lifting the latest tranche of tariffs levied on Sept. 1 on more than $100 billion of Chinese goods, assuming China agrees to make changes to its economic practices.
Those tariffs, which include household products like electronics, are weighing more heavily on American consumers than the initial rounds, which were more focused on technology and manufacturing industries.
The trade war’s toll continues to show up in economic data, with tariffs hurting growth in agricultural and manufacturing states. New figures released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed that while the United States economy continues to grow, it is particularly sluggish in the Midwest, where farmers have faced fierce retaliation from China.
In the second quarter of this year, which ran from April to June, gross domestic product rose by an annual rate of just 1.1 percent in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois and Georgia. G.D.P. grew by just 1 percent in Indiana and Kentucky.
Some officials, including top trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer, argued against the imposition of the Sept. 1 tariffs in the first place, and have not been opposed to trading them in return for significant concessions from China, people familiar with their deliberations say. Reductions of the rate of other tariff tranches have also been under discussion.
American officials have emphasized that any moves depend on China taking more aggressive action to protect American intellectual property, and that Mr. Trump will make the final determination.
From a longer-term perspective, American officials have also discussed the deal with China as a series of agreements, each one of which would be associated with some degree of tariff removal. But how many of the tariffs would be removed, and in return for what concessions, remain big outstanding questions.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/business/china-trade-trump.html
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