The Trade War Is Getting Worse For U.S. Businesses
President Donald Trump’s trade war is making things even worse than before for businesses in the United States. The trade war has been dragging on for four long months now, and the pain is being felt financially.
Companies’ earlier worries are starting to translate into actual financial pain as new orders coming in from China face the higher duties imposed by the Trump administration. According to Business Insider, many companies have retained their workforce but passed the skyrocketing costs of the tariffs on to the backs of the consumer.
While surveys in previous months fully exposed the worries about the soon-to-come cost increases from the tariffs, new data seems to show that businesses are now grappling with that reality. Surveys from the Federal Reserve and market-research firms released Wednesday outlined more widespread worries about the tariffs, while individual companies have started to tabulate the tens of millions of dollars in new costs they’re likely to incur from the tariffs.
The survey came down to a few points:
- Businesses were concerned that goods coming into the US from other countries were more expensive. Many of those goods are used in products sold by American companies to consumers, so the increased import prices prompted a boost in costs for firms and an increase in prices for consumers.
- The retaliatory tariffs made it harder for businesses to sell goods to markets like China and Canada.
- The buildup in the United States of a supply for those goods subject to tariffs abroad (notably farm goods like pork and soybeans) caused prices to sink in the US and businesses to receive less for their products, putting their entire business at risk.
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