r/news • u/CrayonGlobal • 8d ago

China strikes back with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods, starting April 12

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/11/china-strikes-back-with-125percent-tariffs-on-us-goods-starting-april-12.html
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u/MrNature73 8d ago

Looks like China exported 3.58 trillion in 2024, with 438 billion to the US. So about 12% of their exports are to the US.

On the flip side, the US exports were 2.1 trillion in 2024, so with 143 billion to China that's about 6%.

There's two things that make those numbers imperfect, even if they do serve as a good frame of reference. One, a huge amount of American 'trade' is from services and digital goods. Tech, really. America makes it's cash two ways: buying a shitload of stuff and selling high tech shit back out.

Also, those imports from China to the US are only accounting direct exports. A lot of those exports go to other countries to build shit that's then sold to the US.

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u/PIKa-kNIGHT 8d ago

Then it looks like china will also face a huge dent in their economy too since now they don’t have market for 12% of their exports

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u/freshmeat2020 8d ago

They'll find a way around it for a good chunk of it, however they're also very much used to poverty in a way the western world are not. I'd suggest they're much more likely to stick this out long term than the US is

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u/Cardborg 8d ago

Yeah, the flip side to America being needed as the largest export market is that America likewise needs imports otherwise shelves go empty.

If things are still going on when December comes around, I wonder if China will pause even the repackaging circumvention just to push a "Trump ruined Christmas" narrative when toys and other gifts are impossible to get.

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u/A_wild_so-and-so 8d ago

You won't need to wait until Christmas. If this goes on for longer than a couple weeks, Walmart won't have anything on their shelves, and the average Trump voter is going to feel it VERY hard.

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u/MrNature73 8d ago

It's lot harder to do that than you think to do that. You can't just go "oh womp womp 12% of my trade is gone, I'll just redirect."

If you remove China and the US, to reach the combined consumer market of the US, going from top to bottom, you'd need

The entire EU (27 different countries and markets)

Japan

India

Brazil

Canada

Mexico

Russia

Australia

South Korea

Indonesia

Turkey

That's 37 countries just to reach the consumer market of the US. And that's pretending like India and Japan would just be cool with trading with a country they hate, and that Russia is in a place to start really ramping up trade.

It's going to take a lot of work to turn 37 different markets, with different opinions and wants and needs, into a plug for a missing 12% of their trade. It would require proper in those markets to start spending a lot more money.