The tariffs begin at 10 per cent, but on Jan. 1 they more than double to 25 per cent.
The new tariffs are in addition to 25 per cent tariffs imposed earlier on about $50 billion worth of Chinese goods.
That means half of the goods imported from China now face tariffs.
It’s not yet clear what the Chinese will do, but their response to the earlier tariffs was tariffs on many U.S. products, including soybeans and pork.
That has hit Canadian farmers who have nothing to do with the U.S.-China trade dispute. The Chinese tariffs force exporters to either cut prices to sell to the Chinese or find other markets and that, in turn, has depressed hog and soybean prices.
Since both commodities trade freely across the Canada-U.S. border, there have been price declines in the Canadian soybean and pork markets.
Trump has promised U.S. farmers $12 billion worth of relief. So far the Canadian government has offered nothing, other than pointing to its existing AgriStability program that cushions declines in profits.
According to reporter Bob Woodward’s book, Fear, most of Trump’s economic advisors have strongly opposed his plans to impose tariffs. While the logic is on their side, Trump has remained defiantly in favour of tariffs.
His book also notes that Trump has been warned that 96.6 per cent of the U.S. antibiotics come from China.
