China-US Trade Tensions: China: Trade war hurts the US itself

World
Europe

02:44

A Chinese White Paper has offered other hard facts and figures arguing against the trade war. One of those arguments is the trade war will not only hurt other economies but eventually undermine US interests. CGTN's Jin Yingqiao has more.

It's not just China's interests that will be hurt, Donald Trump's tariffs are also dealing a blow to his own economy.

The white paper points to damages from several perspectives, including US companies and their employees, US consumers, and the US economic environment.

First, the tariffs will push up manufacturing costs and affect American jobs.

According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, since 95 percent of the Chinese products hit by higher tariffs are components used in end products made in the US, raising tariffs will only damage US businesses.

General Electric says that tariffs could raise its costs by 300-400 million US dollars. General Motors, along with Ford and Chrysler, have already lowered their full-year profit forecast.

The Peterson Institute also projected that raising tariffs on imported cars would cause 195-thousand US jobs.

Second, the white paper says the tariffs will drive up prices and harm consumer interests.

The paper argues that for many years, inexpensive yet quality products from China has been key in keeping inflation low in the US.

The US National Taxpayers Union warned in an open letter that higher duties would increase prices for consumers, and few people would gain.

The US Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers concluded that a 25 percent tariff on imported cars would drive up the average price by 58 hundred US dollars.

Thirdly, the tariffs are triggering countermeasures from other countries, which in turn hurt the US economy.

Major US trading partners, including China, Canada, and the EU, had all announced such measures.

Canada announced a tariff increase on 12.6 billion dollars worth of US goods.

Harley-Davidson, the well-known American motorcycle maker, estimated that the EU's retaliation will raise the cost per motocycle shipped to Europe by about 22-hundred US dollars. The company is now shifting the production of some bikes overseas.

China has pointed to a grave and disorderly picture of global trade:

LUO WEN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY "The tariffs imposed by the United States may be said to have disrupted this normal system of international industrial division, resulting in disjoint between upstream and downstream in certain industries. They could lead to a fragmentation of the global industrial chain."

Jin Yingqiao, CGTN.