The frontrunner for the US Republican nomination launched a large-scale trade war with Beijing during his presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former US President Donald Trump has told advisers he wants to impose a 60% tariff on all imports from China if he wins this year\u2019s election, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three unnamed people familiar with the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The measure would trigger major disruptions to the US and to economies around the world, which would far exceed the impact of the trade wars initiated by Trump during his first presidential term, economists from both the Democratic and Republican parties told the newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his current presidential campaign, Trump has pledged to revoke China\u2019s status as a \u201cmost favored nation\u201d<\/em> for trade. The designation is applied to almost all nations that do business with the US, and the White House can introduce any tariffs on imported goods from countries that do not have it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the GOP front-runner, tariffs on foreign goods raise vital revenue for the US budget, and current import levies are among the world\u2019s lowest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China ranks third in the list of US trading partners, behind Mexico and Canada. In November, Beijing accounted for 11.7% of total US foreign trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to analysts polled by the newspaper, such plans, if executed, are likely to spark a global trade war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe 2018 to 2019 trade war was immensely damaging, and this would go so far beyond that it\u2019s hard to even compare to that,\u201d<\/em> Erica York, senior economist at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank that opposes the tariffs, told the Washington Post. \u201cThis threatens to upend and fragment global trade to an extent we haven\u2019t seen in centuries.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf a Trump administration were to put up much higher tariffs on imports from China, American companies would lose most of their market share in both China and many third countries,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Posen said, having called the trade proposals\u00a0\u201clunacy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n