Yet Another Fortnight Of Economic Turbulence

It started with the first shot in the trade war fired by the US President Donald Trump. It was not unexpected, as he fought his presidential election campaign promising action against “unfair trade practices” and “manipulative exchange rate” polices of China and vowed to protect American jobs.

- T.K. Jayaraman

President Trump has fulfilled his electoral promise. Though he softened his stand against imports of steel on allies, which included Canada and Australia, he did not stop with steel imports from China. He pursued the trade war with another round of tariffs. On March 22, he hit China with tariffs on $60 billion of imports. This time, it was to retaliate against the “theft” of American intellectual property.

China responded promptly. Next day, it released a list of potential tariffs on $3 billion worth of American goods, from pork to fruits and wine. A 25% would be imposed on a second category of goods totaling nearly $2 billion, including aluminium scrap.

If the list extends to include soybeans, the American farmers would be hit very hard. The loss will be around $ 14 billion. One-third of American exports of soybean go to China. Certainly, the farmers in the soybean growing states of the US, which elected President Trump, would not forgive him.

So the trade war has begun. 

Will India be affected?