Those Retaliatory Tariffs the White House Insisted Wouldn’t Happen. . . Are Happening.

Those Retaliatory Tariffs the White House Insisted Wouldn’t Happen. . . Are Happening. By Jim geraghty

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/mueller-downgrades-trumps-role-in-the-russia-collusion-investigation/

White House National Trade Council director Peter Navarro, discussing the potential impact of the U.S. imposing tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, on Fox Business, March 2: “I don’t believe any country in the world is going to retaliate for the simple reason that we are the most lucrative and biggest market in the world. They know they’re cheating us and all we’re doing is standing up for ourselves.”

The news this morning:

China announced tariffs on U.S. products worth $50 billion on Wednesday, retaliating against American tariffs on Chinese high-tech goods and sharply escalating a trade war that could damage the global economy.

The Tariff Commission of China’s powerful State Council plans to impose a 25% tariff on 106 U.S. products including soybeans, cars and chemicals, according to an announcement by China’s state broadcaster CCTV. Beijing will also target U.S. corn, cotton, beef, orange juice, whiskey, tobacco, and several lubricants and plastic products.

And here’s how the tariff conflict is playing the Trump-won state of Pennsylvania. . .

“China is a top-five market for Pennsylvania’s producers,” said William Nichols, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. “The agriculture community is concerned about trade and the direction of the nation’s trade policy, and this week’s news of retaliatory tariffs on American goods being traded with China is further cause for alarm.”

Pennsylvania exports $413 mil­lion a year in agricultural and related products to China, Nichols said.

And in the Trump-won state of Wisconsin. . .

The Chinese government suggested the tariff last month and originally planned to wait 60 days before it was enacted, but the process was accelerated and the tariff went into effect early Monday morning, said Bob Kaldunski, the president of the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin, based in Wausau. China is the largest consumer of American ginseng.

Kaldunski said he was surprised by China’s quick implementation and believes that the tariff will have detrimental consequences for Wisconsin’s industry. Wisconsin is home to 95 percent of the American production of the plant.

And in the Trump-won state of Michigan. . .

“The timing of this comes when we have a lot of product, a lot of hogs coming. And so strategically the timing of this to affect our markets is at a bad time,” says Bob Dykuis, of Dykuis Farms Inc. “When about 25% of the product is exported, you kind of live and die by that as far as your markets. The Chinese announcement has affected the last couple of days dramatically on the futures.”

David Williams says if a soybean tariff goes into effect it wouldn’t be long before soybean farmers in Michigan started feeling the pinch. Soybeans are also used for animal feed, including pigs, so they would have an impact on each other.

And in the Trump-won states of Missouri and North Carolina. . .

Processed foods like pork products are the third-largest export for the Kansas City area and China is the area’s third-largest export partner, so the recent announcement of China implementing a 25 percent pork tariff is bad news for the Kansas City area.

The Kansas City area is home to two of the nation’s largest pork producers: Smithfield Foods Inc. and Seaboard Corp.

Smithfield Foods, which has an operation in Kansas City employing 948 people, is the world’s largest pork producer. Its largest plant, which can process up to 32,500 hogs a day, is in Tar Heel, N.C. It also has operations in the northern Missouri town of Milan; Clinton, N.C.; Crete, Neb.; Denison, Iowa; Gwaltney, Va.; Los Angeles; Monmouth, Ill.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.

And in the Trump-won state of Nebraska:

“We want to sell more product to China not less,” said Nebraska Pork Producer Association Executive Director Al Juhnke.

He said the Nebraska exports about $16 million in pork to China every year.

“If it goes on long term, it’s going to affect our rural economies here in Nebraska and the upper mid-West,” Juhnke said. There is also a ripple affect according to Juhnke.

There are three pork processing plants in the state and hogs consume a lot of soybeans. Soybean growers are also concerned they may be targeted next.

“We have heard directly from the Chinese government that soybean imports are a prime target for retaliation,” said Nebraska Soybean Growers Association Executive Director Lori Luebbe.

Nice call, Navarro. I’ll bet his mock draft is really inaccurate, too.