China is placing an additional tariff of 25 percent on $16 billion of U.S. products. The tariffs will be activated on August.
China’s list differs from an earlier draft. The number of categories of goods subject to tariffs rose to 333 from 114 in the June draft, although the total value is unchanged.
“My expectation is that U.S. tariffs on $250 billion of imports from China will be in effect about a month prior to the November U.S. elections. That’s soon enough to be used by Trump as a rallying argument, but late enough so that adverse effects will not occur before January 2019. Of course, China will retaliate, probably dollar for dollar,” Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow and trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington said in an interview with Reuters.