As the White House claims they have the ‘upper hand’ in the China trade war, a new POLITICO report is claiming otherwise.
US tariffs on Chinese goods are now at 145 percent. This is up 135 percentage points since February 1, when there was just a 10 percent tariff.
Over the weekend, administration officials were defending President Donald Trump’s plan to “'carve-out' a tariff hike on consumer electronics from the astronomical 145 percent tariffs it levied on China.”
The move is a notable policy rollback as technology products are also subject to a 20 percent tariff from China and "some electronic components could face sector-specific tariffs in the future.”
According to the outlet, Trump's exceptions are “indicative of the relatively weak position the administration.”
ALSO READ: MSNBC's Maddow shreds Trump White House for labeling 13-year-old immigrant a 'terrorist'
They also noted a second problem with the tariffs: “The U.S. is imposing new tariffs on Chinese goods in an attempt to move manufacturing back to the U.S., but those tariffs are particularly painful for U.S. manufacturers because they are currently so dependent on Chinese parts.”
One former Trump administration official told Politico that the trade war the president launched will not be easy to deescalate.
“Xi Jinping will not back down [because] the [Chinese Communist Party] will lose confidence in him," they said. "This is going to get really ugly."
As Politico noted, “Beijing’s prompt countermeasures underscore that readiness: a cross-domain mixture of tariffs, export restrictions on critical minerals essential to U.S. industry and targeting of American firms with official probes or sanctions that press multiple economic pain points.”
The pending tariffs exceptions are expected to only affect semiconductors. However, the White House could expand them to encompass the broader “electronics supply chain.”
Trump announced he would announce the tariff rate for semiconductors within the next week. On Monday, he did not offer any more specific information.