US tariffs on Chinese goods could put American jobs at risk

Global Business

President Donald Trump has long claimed that using tariffs in the ongoing trade conflict with China will mean more jobs for American workers, but evidence suggests the opposite could be true.

CGTN’s Jim Spellman reports.

A report funded by U.S. retailers and technology companies concludes a “tariff war” may actually cost American jobs—and lots of them.

“When you drill down and look at the impacts on things like U.S. jobs it gets to be significant. We have estimated that the tariffs from the U.S. coupled with the retaliation from China would cost up to 134,000 U.S. jobs spread out over every state in the United States,” Laura Baughman, an analyst at Trade Partnership Worldwide and co-author of the study said.

There will be winners and losers the report finds. If an initial round of U.S. tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, and corresponding Chinese countermeasures go through, the study finds more than 41,654 U.S. jobs will be gained, but around 175,000 will be lost.

Hit particularly hard: agriculture, losing more than 67,000 jobs, construction losing more than 29,000 jobs and the manufacturing sector loses nearly 11,000 jobs.

With tariffs cutting into profits, companies will likely look for ways to save money.

“That’s when they start casting out for cutting wages for workers, cutting out 401k contributions, or in the worst case, laying somebody off,” Baughman said.

Every state will lose jobs, but the industrial Midwest and rural farming areas will be hit particularly hard—places that helped elect Donald Trump.