Both major US presidential candidates fundamentally agree on international trade objectives, former American trade officials said on Thursday, but look for more threats, posturing and volatile tariff barriers under a Donald Trump 2.0 administration, particularly against China.
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Since then, campaigning has cast international trade in decidedly domestic terms, with Trump threatening to impose up to 20 per cent tariffs on all imports and 60 per cent on Chinese goods – presumably on top of the 25 per cent levels already in place.
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In heated if detail-free exchanges, Trump has framed tariffs as a source of “billions” of US dollars for child care, a stronger US dollar and an “economic renaissance”.
Meanwhile, Harris, whose tariff arguments are backed by most economists, has tarred them as a US$4,000 annual tax on middle-class Americans.