US tariffs on Chinese goods will cost between $300 to $1,000 per household

[nanoguy]

Bottom line: The latest round of tariffs that took effect on Sunday and the upcoming ones are projected by the Congressional Budget Office to reduce the real US GDP by an estimated 0.3% by 2020, with the average real household income expected to drop by $580. The effect is that American families will see their average annual cost increase between $300 and $1,000 by the end of this year.

We've known since the beginning of August that the US was going to begin imposing 15 percent tariffs on a wide range of Chinese products, to which China has responded with import duties on American crude oil. The decision affects everything from footwear, clothing, and wearables to PCs, game consoles, and smart TVs, and is part of a trade war with no end in sight.

Big tech in particular is calling for a truce, but in the meantime companies like Apple are looking towards India and Vietnam as the next destinations for their manufacturing needs. With that in mind, it's important to look at the effect that tariffs will have on American consumers, especially since we're talking about almost $110 billion in Chinese imports if you go by Bloomberg or $125 billion according to Reuters.

Economists Kirill Borusyak at University College London and Xavier Jaravel at the London School of Economics estimate the average American family will see a $460 hit by the end of the year. Of course, this is all based on estimated spending habits and the cost ranges from $340 for the poorest to $970 for the wealthiest households, where income exceeds $160,000 per year.

It's also worth noting that this doesn't include the upcoming waves of tariffs, and the trade war will increase the price of consumer electronics much more than life essentials like food and clothing. Still, the poorest will be hit the hardest because the import duties have a disproportionate effect on different classes, even though economists are optimistic that necessities "won't break the bank" for most people.

Organizations like the National Retail Federation believe the impact on the US economy and small businesses in particular is too big to ignore. Carltons Men’s and Women’s Apparel co-owner Trey Kraus told Senator Chris Coons during a store tour that he wants the president "to understand that the tariffs are being paid for by the American people." He explained that small businesses depend on China to source some of their materials and that the tariffs will have a "profound and punitive effect on everyone in our local economic community.”

Previously, the Trump administration levied a 25 percent import tax on $250 billion worth of goods from China, but those were targeted at products like solar panels and big home appliances like washing machines. The upcoming rounds of tariffs will cover almost everything that comes from the Asian country, down to children's toys, toothbrushes and nail clippers.

It all adds up to $300 billion worth of goods, which is why China has retaliated with import duties on $75 billion worth of American goods. Meanwhile, Trump says China is paying for the newly imposed tariffs and that farmers are protected from the fallout by federal payments. Companies and economists disagree, arguing that ultimately the cost is passed on to the consumers, who will likely reduce their spending as a result.

Interestingly, Bloomberg notes that German manufacturers BMW and Daimler who each sell over 40 million cars a year in China are in a particularly bad spot, with import taxes adding 50 percent to the cost of importing them into the Asian country.

Tech giants like Apple have tried every avenue possible to get some relief on tariffs, even arguing that rivals like Samsung would have an unfair advantage. Trump has yet to change his mind on the matter and analysts like Ming Chi-Kuo speculate that Apple will keep their prices the same and absorb the tariffs until it can shift its production out of China.

Annaliese Griffin has an interesting read on how to insulate yourself from the trade war. In short, while some of the added cost from tariffs is unavoidable, a strong case can be made that you could always adjust your spending habits to avoid wasting money on things you don't need.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81707-us-tariffs-chinese-goods-cost-between-300-1000.html

 

[m3tavision]

Yeah, we should see a lot of "Buy American" stickers again, like we did in the 80's.
Kalifornia is the biggest offender here, they are a foreign nation.

 

[psycros]

"It all adds up to $300 billion worth of goods, which is why China has retaliated with import duties on $75 billion worth of American goods."

China didn't retaliate against the US - the US finally retaliated against China who has heavily taxed all foreign imports except staples they can't produce enough of themselves (certain foods, oil) for over 25 years. All China has been doing lately is insuring that Trump's plan to move US manufacturing out of China will be successful. Its insane that Wall St and its puppet government have been rewarding Asian offshoring since late in the Bush Sr. era. Its even more insane that they turned a Second World dictatorship into a superpower all for the sake of stock price. Time to undo that mistake and either bring those jobs home or give them to nations we're actually on friendly terms with. F China, hard.

 

[poohbear]

This is long overdue. Wall street has helped create a monster in building up China. All they cared about were stock prices, with little care that the Xi Jinpeng runs a dictatorship that suppresses any notion of democracy or human rights. Not only were Chinese companies ripping off American intellectual property, but they would later try to kick those same companies out once they copied everything from them! Enough is enough! The US government has finally woken up, and said all companies need to leave China cause they can't keep helping to build this monster. Hopefully it's not too late. Maybe one day the Chinese people will rise up when their economic progress stalls and they see their government for what it is, a complete dictatorship run by emperor Xi Jinpeng. Hong Kongers certainly aren't having none of it, and good for them.

P.S. I, and I'm sure most posters, have nothing against the Chinese people, its the totalitarian government our issue is with. The people deserve a transparent & democratically elected government by the people, for the people. Right now, there is absolutely nothing transparent about this government.

 

[OptimumSlinky]

Yeah, we should see a lot of "Buy American" stickers again, like we did in the 80's.
Kalifornia is the biggest offender here, they are a foreign nation.

Given how often they bring it up, it must truly infuriate conservatives that California is the fifth largest economy in the world and a massive contributor to the USA's total GDP.

 

[Cubi Dorf]

The tariff money goes to US government that is trillions of monies in debt and will go bankrupt if they don’t bring in money. You can’t keep borrowing more forever. What will happening to your country if go bankrupt is very bad for you. Still you don’t want to support your country. Because you hate your leadership?. I don’t understanding American foolishness. Because that money is not worth saving your country I guess.

 

[Misagt]

I'd happily pay 5 times this if it brings back manufacturing.

 

[toooooot]

The tariff money goes to US government that is trillions of monies in debt and will go bankrupt if they don’t bring in money. You can’t keep borrowing more forever. What will happening to your country if go bankrupt is very bad for you. Still you don’t want to support your country. Because you hate your leadership?. I don’t understanding American foolishness. Because that money is not worth saving your country I guess.

I read your comment 5 times, and I still cant understand what you meant.
And regarding hating leaderships, they re all corrupt and all must be controlled or else they just steal.
But last election it was like Vote anybody but Hillary. There was only Trump available!
Like, what world does Hillary live in? The one where women are endlessly oppressed by manhood?
She created problems she wanted to solve being a president that are not even in top 100 of our main problems. Anyways, your message is very unclear. Write better.

 

[Hexic]

Yeah, we should see a lot of "Buy American" stickers again, like we did in the 80's.
Kalifornia is the biggest offender here, they are a foreign nation.

Given how often they bring it up, it must truly infuriate conservatives that California is the fifth largest economy in the world and a massive contributor to the USA's total GDP.

That is the largest double-edged sword there is. Despite their assistance to the GDP (In part because of assistance that the feds provide them), CA is a clusterfarce of poor economic policy, deep societal issues, and a perfect blueprint of how money controls government.

But it’s all forgiven by their “forward thinking” ahead of other states, right?

CA’s a joke, and their usefulness is crutched up by everyone else.

 

[Babbel13]

What conservatives don't seem to realize is that progressive states like California actually send more money to the federal government than they get back. That money is used to support the slacker states with Republican leaders and ignorant voters.

The tariff war is a double edge sword. On one hand goods made in China have greatly lowered the cost of acquiring them so raised the standard of living for many people in the USA. If all those TVs, stereo receivers , iPads and smart phones were made in the US they would cost much more. Yes, a few more people would have jobs but missions would suffer fro the high cost of living. In the end robots would make many of the electronics items anyway. Just compare two guitars, one made in South Korea vs the same one made in the US. The US version is double the price. Tariffs are just raising the cost to consumers to help pay for the big tax cuts given to corporations and the wealthy.

 

[Jules Mark]

Stop spending money on things you don't need.
I peacefully support Hong Kong's democracy moment.

 

[Evernessince]

Yeah, we should see a lot of "Buy American" stickers again, like we did in the 80's.
Kalifornia is the biggest offender here, they are a foreign nation.

Are these stickers going to be like MAGA hats, "Made in China"? The reality is, a lot of everyday goods are made in china. Factories don't pop-up overnight nor is it even profitable to make these items in the US to begin with.

Companies are just doing the expected, maximizing profits.

 

[wiyosaya]

"It all adds up to $300 billion worth of goods, which is why China has retaliated with import duties on $75 billion worth of American goods."

China didn't retaliate against the US - the US finally retaliated against China who has heavily taxed all foreign imports except staples they can't produce enough of themselves (certain foods, oil) for over 25 years. All China has been doing lately is insuring that Trump's plan to move US manufacturing out of China will be successful. Its insane that Wall St and its puppet government have been rewarding Asian offshoring since late in the Bush Sr. era. Its even more insane that they turned a Second World dictatorship into a superpower all for the sake of stock price. Time to undo that mistake and either bring those jobs home or give them to nations we're actually on friendly terms with. F China, hard.

I am sure you will not want to hear this, however, manufacturers, especially ones that have manufacturing plants in various countries already, are finding creative ways to avoid the tariffs. Take, for instance, this - https://www.techspot.com/news/81703-army-indian-workers-earning-4-day-putting-together.html

It is not only foxconnjob that is doing so. It is US manufacturers, too, especially those with manufacturing plants in other countries.

Jobs will not be coming back to the US. If they did, it would put US exports to China in jeopardy from competing manufacturers in countries that do not have these misguided tariffs to deal with especially since there is a tariff war going on ATM between the US and China.

What is going on here, like it or not, is a game of whack-a-mole. Corporate greed will not change in the least from this excursion into futility. Like it or not, the world is a global economy and has been for a long time. At least part of this futile effort is making it harder for US companies to sell in the Chinese market.

Feckless leader is doing nothing but increasing the cost of living for US citizens. US citizens, just like everyone but feckless leader said, are paying these tariffs.

Want real change? Stand up for someone who will change the internal laws of the US that still, even after feckless leader promised otherwise, favor companies sending jobs overseas. The US needs to clean its own house. That is where the problem lies.

 

[kira setsu]

I'd happily pay 5 times this if it brings back manufacturing.

you must be living a good life then

 

[Uncle Al]

The real signal to watch for is how companies like Walmart handle the increases. As we've seen, they dropped the "cost cutting" logo years ago and now struggle to be competitive to some of their rivals. They could shift a significant portion of their buying portfolio to Vietnam and similar countries but all of these combined will have a tough time filling the orders lost by China. Of course, in the longer run this will spread the competitiveness across all of Asia, further reducing China's influence on many of them. It's doubtful that Trump see's this but it could be a lucky win for him if he doesn't change his mind yet again .... check back in an hour to see .....

 

[Mike89]

China has had us in a bent over position for too long. Time to stand up straight and even the playing field. It's about damn time.

 

[Misagt]

you must be living a good life then

Nope poor and disabled. I just understand letting china control us will end our way of life.

 

[CobraA1]

Want real change? Stand up for someone who will change the internal laws of the US that still, even after feckless leader promised otherwise, favor companies sending jobs overseas. The US needs to clean its own house. That is where the problem lies.

You mean like lowering the minimum wage and reducing benefits?

I think a lot of people simply fail to see the problem: US workers are expensive, Chinese workers are cheap. That's the problem. You can make US workers less expensive (unpopular because that reduces the standard of living), or you can raise the cost of goods from outside the US to compensate for the cheaper labor (unpopular because people love to use military words to describe economic decisions and toss around the phrase "global economy" as if they understand it).

It's basically a no-win scenario. No matter what you do, you make people angry because they don't understand that yes, absolutely, there will always be a trade-off for moving jobs to the USA. Either a reduced standard of living or more expensive goods. Personally, I am fine with more expensive goods so I don't mind a bit of a "trade war." We already tax income and sales and plenty of other things, why not tax imports? Why must that be the one thing we avoid taxing at all costs? It makes no sense.

Goods aren't supposed to be this cheap to begin with - not if we actually want to apply the same standard of living globally. And if we're unwilling to apply the same standard of living globally, that begs the question of why we're willing to accept different standards for the USA and the rest of the world.

The cost of cheap goods - is lowered standards of living in places where we get the goods from. The cost of cheap goods - is inequality. That is, unless you're willing to accept the idea of a lowered standard of living in the USA to about Chinese levels.

It's funny that so many people are fired up about fixing inequality in the USA, but when it comes to the rest of the world - nobody cares. It's important here, but not there. All in the name of keeping goods cheap, we sweep inconvenient truths under the rug.

 

[loki1944]

"It all adds up to $300 billion worth of goods, which is why China has retaliated with import duties on $75 billion worth of American goods."

China didn't retaliate against the US - the US finally retaliated against China who has heavily taxed all foreign imports except staples they can't produce enough of themselves (certain foods, oil) for over 25 years. All China has been doing lately is insuring that Trump's plan to move US manufacturing out of China will be successful. Its insane that Wall St and its puppet government have been rewarding Asian offshoring since late in the Bush Sr. era. Its even more insane that they turned a Second World dictatorship into a superpower all for the sake of stock price. Time to undo that mistake and either bring those jobs home or give them to nations we're actually on friendly terms with. F China, hard.

Amen.

 

[m3tavision]

Are these stickers going to be like MAGA hats, "Made in China"? The reality is, a lot of everyday goods are made in china. Factories don't pop-up overnight nor is it even profitable to make these items in the US to begin with.

Companies are just doing the expected, maximizing profits.

Yes, I know about reality, because I lived it and watched all of out manufacturing job go over to China, because out Government was corrupt and selling out Americans. Now that we have a strong Global Leader he is making sure Americans are not being taking advantage of, or being sold on down the line.

The reality if "a lot of every days good are made in china" is they don't have to be. Those jobs will move back to the US, or Countries like India will love those Factories. Americans don't have to buy any good from China, ever. That is China's mistake here, they think they own the world and NOPE everyone can just up & move out and let china make plastic trinkets for themselves.

Again, I am sure some of the cotton-candy types from Kaliformia will complain loudly about having to buy American, but over time they will get over it, and their children will be better for it.


Nobody cares if you have to pay $14 more for a keyboard, mouse, motherboard, etc.. because it wasn't made in China. I would gladly pay more, not to have any Communist products ion my household...

 

[m3tavision]

I am sure you will not want to hear this, however...
At least part of this futile effort is making it harder for US companies to sell in the Chinese market.

Feckless leader is doing nothing but increasing the cost of living for US citizens. US citizens, just like everyone but feckless leader said, are paying these tariffs.

China does allow outside companies to sell directly to the Chinese People. If they did, then there would not be an issue and everything would be fair. Perhaps you are the clueless one and doesn't understand what a communist nation is..?

Trump is treating china correctly, a Country who has been stealing it's wealth for 20 years and will die soon if it doesn't play nice with the rest of the world. Because US sanctions are nothing when China has World sanctions and blackades...

 

[m3tavision]

Given how often they bring it up, it must truly infuriate conservatives that California is the fifth largest economy in the world and a massive contributor to the USA's total GDP.

Fact is: Kalifornia is a welfare state and is in debt. The Federal Government spend more in Kali, then people in Kali pay in taxes.

Your facts are superficial and why the rest of the Country is always laughing at young children from Kali.. because they were never taught civics, or government or facts in Kali schools.

 

[Charles Olson]

"It all adds up to $300 billion worth of goods, which is why China has retaliated with import duties on $75 billion worth of American goods."

China didn't retaliate against the US - the US finally retaliated against China who has heavily taxed all foreign imports except staples they can't produce enough of themselves (certain foods, oil) for over 25 years. All China has been doing lately is insuring that Trump's plan to move US manufacturing out of China will be successful. Its insane that Wall St and its puppet government have been rewarding Asian offshoring since late in the Bush Sr. era. Its even more insane that they turned a Second World dictatorship into a superpower all for the sake of stock price. Time to undo that mistake and either bring those jobs home or give them to nations we're actually on friendly terms with. F China, hard.

Don't blame it all on Wall Street and the Government as most of the blame should be on you and other consumers who buy the cheaper chinese products and who now will have to pay this tax er tarif ! If you had only kept buying the more expensive American made products then China would never have gotten this foothold ! If you want to support Trump then get off of your china made product buying spree .... no more Chinese made cell phones and LCD ( tvs and monitors ) and computer parts like motherboards and graphic cards cpu coolers and all electronics ! Yes it's always much easier to blame others so it's best to practise what you preach !

 

[OptimumSlinky]

Fact is: Kalifornia is a welfare state and is in debt. The Federal Government spend more in Kali, then people in Kali pay in taxes.

Your facts are superficial and why the rest of the Country is always laughing at young children from Kali.. because they were never taught civics, or government or facts in Kali schools.

Fun facts:
1. We currently spend more in fossil fuel subsidies (corporate welfare) than we do on defense (source: https://www.imf.org/~/media/Files/Publications/WP/2019/WPIEA2019089.ashx). Yet nobody on the right seems to whine about "government meddling in free market" there.
2. Republicans whined about the debt until they took power, then blew a hole in the thing with tax cuts that haven't done anything except make huge corporate donors wealthier and certainly hasn't created jobs en masse (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/at-t-got-a-giant-tax-cut-but-has-laid-off-thousands-union-says/).

California pays OUT in taxes far more than it receives in Federal aid, a scenario that is reversed in almost every single red state (https://www.politifact.com/california/article/2017/feb/14/does-california-give-more-it-gets-dc/). The real issue in America today is the fact that people still refuse to acknowledge that supply side economic theory (cutting taxes for corporations and rich people will create jobs and reinvestment) has never worked in the history of the United States, yet the GOP keeps pushing it and *****s keep voting for it.

 

[Ean Mogg]

Wouldn't cost $300 to $1000 if families don't buy Chinese goods when the same items from the US will be cheaper or nearly the same price...