Chinese/US Trade Battle Could Greatly Impact Farmers
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2018--The Trump administration’s proposed tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports, coupled with retaliation promised by China, would reduce U.S. gross domestic product by nearly $3 billion and destroy 134,000 American jobs, according to a new study released today by the National Retail Federation and the Consumer Technology Association. The report finds that four jobs would be lost for every job gained. While the impact of the tariffs would be felt across various sectors of the U.S. economy, agriculture would be hit especially hard. The net income of farmers would decline by 6.7 percent, and 67,000 agriculture jobs would be lost. And the hit to farmers would more than double if the tariffs expanded to an additional $100 billion of products. Farmer income would drop by 15 percent, and jobs in the sector would decline by 181,000.