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Graphic shows America’s largest trading partners and lists possible retaliatory tarrifs.
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BUSINESS

America’s top trading partners mull retaliatory tariffs

By Duncan Mil

March 5, 2018 - White House tariffs on imported steel and aluminium threaten U.S. bilateral trade worth $5,225 billion in 2017, pushing America’s trading partners to prepare retaliatory levies on U.S. products.

White House tariffs on imported steel and aluminium threaten U.S. bilateral trade worth $5,225 billion in 2017, pushing America’s trading partners to prepare retaliatory levies on U.S. products.

If U.S. President Trump goes ahead and imposes 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent tariffs on aluminium, America’s largest trade partners are expected to respond in kind.

The European Union immediately dusted off a 14-year-old list of sanctions against the U.S. drawn up in 2004 after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruled that a U.S. an anti-dumping law -- the so-called Byrd amendment -- was illegal.

Targeting €3.46 billion ($4.3 billion) of American goods, the EU plans a 25 percent tit-for-tat levy on a range of U.S. goods including motorcycles, jeans, rice, orange juice and bourbon whiskey.

China launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of $1.1 billion of U.S. sorghum after Trump slapped steep tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines in January.

Beijing is also studying the potential impact of tariffs on soybeans imported from the U.S., valued last year at $13.9 billion. Chinese livestock gulped down more than half of U.S. soybean exports in 2017. A trade war could cost tens of thousands of jobs in America’s farming industry, many of them in states that will decide the 2018 midterm elections.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 06/03/2018; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Associated Press
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