Tariff Déjà Vu: Another Year of Trump Turning Levies Into a Global Weapon

The year is ending with a familiar sense of déjà vu in trade land. Washington and Beijing have a trade truce — with the U.S. shelving plans to impose tariffs on all remaining Chinese goods that have yet to be targeted in mid-December as the two superpowers try to hash out a permanent deal in the new year. But while President Trump hailed the tentative agreement in a tweet as “an amazing deal for all,” retailers have been here before — and not just because a lot of government policy was also set on Twitter in 2018. In fact, this December détente is eerily similar to the situation last year, which did not turn out to be plain sailing for anyone involved and led the stock market on a roller-coaster ride over the past 12 months. Just think to last December when the trade war was also on a hiatus after China and the U.S. made a deal that the latter would put on hold its plans to increase levies on another $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent on Jan. 1 as part of a 90-day negotiation. Sound familiar? However, after pushing back that deadline more than once, they

Follow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

Read More...

from WWDWWD https://ift.tt/34S6DK1