The ongoing escalation in a trade war between the United States and China ratcheted up again on Monday when U.S. tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods went into effect.
As the trade war has raged on and tariffs have been slapped on more and more U.S. imports from China, U.S. consumer goods have been feeling more of the pain. This latest round of tariffs is no exception. Here are some of the things that are on the list.
Your wifi router
Many of the items to be tariffed are the very things that keep the Internet running. Modems, routers, and switching and networking gear have not been exempted from this latest round of tariffs, a move that will hurt consumers, as the U.S. Customs and Border Control agency will not draw a distinction between equipment meant for consumer use and that meant for commercial use.
The tires on your car
And also the brakes. John Bozzella, CEO of the Association of Global Automakers, said the car and auto-industry related tariffs in this latest round are likely to hurt American workers and consumers. To the contrary, Trump has claimed that his tariffs are intended to protect and support American industry.
Your dining room table
The U.S. imported more than $9 billion worth of furniture from China in 2017. “Upholstered wooden seats,” “wooden furniture,” and “metal furniture” will now all be tariffed, along with other household goods like vacuum cleaners and some lamps.
American technological dominance
Google, Dell, and IBM are among the companies warning that increased costs to American companies associated with tariffs on Chinese goods will hurt American competitiveness in the long run. 5G wireless networks were cited as an area where American R&D development will be hurt by the need to spend more elsewhere. As Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, told The New York Times, “If we are going to impose tariffs on Chinese goods, we should impose them on items that hurt the Chinese, not us.”
