Tariffs Cost U.S. Importers $6.8 Billion in July, THH Says

Trade group Tariffs Hurt the Heartland claims President Trump’s tariffs cost U.S. importers a record $6.8 billion in July.  The vast majority were on Chinese goods, though the administration has imposed on other commodities.

Michelle Meyer, an economist with Bank of America, said, “The unpredictable nature of the trade will keep businesses, at best, in wait-and-see mode.”

Before the trade war with China began, the organization says the U.S. was shipping $1.47 billion more in hardwoods overseas than American companies were importing.  However, that surplus shrank last year as the U.S. imposed double-digit tariffs on Chinese goods, and Beijing retaliated.  The industry is agricultural but relies on a crop that can take 30 years to mature as opposed to a single growing season.  Members of the Hardwood Federation, a Washington D.C.-based trade group representing the $210 billion industry, are eager for a trade agreement, though they believe it will still take considerable time to rebuild the ground they have lost in China.

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