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We begin in Washington, where business owners have ended a fifth day of lobbying the U.S. government for and against more tariffs on China. US President Trump is threatening more duties on another 200 billion dollars of Chinese imports. And this time, daily-used consumer goods are not likely to be spared as before. CGTN's Owen Fairclough has the latest.
At the end of a week of conflicting signals about the U.S-China trade war, business owners and lobbyists spent a fifth day telling the Trump administration how another 200 billion dollars of tariffs on Chinese imports would affect them.
If they're imposed, possibly in late September, some Chinese imports - like Mandarin oranges - will get hit with duties as high as 25%.
VIVIENNE OUYANG CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER, CHIC GROUP "Twenty-five percent is extremely high. And because Mandarin business is a very low margin and 25% is maybe a kill, damage the business."
The Trump administration is pressuring China into changing what Washington considers unfair trade practices that threaten American jobs and the economy.
OWEN FAIRCLOUGH WASHINGTON "The U.S and China have already hit each other with duties on 50 billion dollars worth of each other's goods, but largely spared consumer goods. The next round won't."
And a new study from the U.S. National Retail Federation says consumers will pay billions of dollars more for luggage and furniture alone if those duties are imposed.
Owen Fairclough, CGTN Washington.