Ripe olives are a critical ingredient for olive oil. They’ve also been ripe with trade tension over the past two years. Spanish black olives, green olives and olive oil have all been embroiled in two recent trade disputes between the United States and the European Union (EU), resulting in higher tariffs and increased prices of Spanish olives and olive oils for U.S. consumers.
President Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced their desire to “build a new partnership” after meeting in August, potentially through a bilateral free trade agreement. Beyond any political merits or challenges, the potential commercial benefits of a U.S.-Brazil FTA can be shown through textbook economics.
Responding to U.S. tariffs, China has imposed a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans since July last year. The tariff has remained in place as leverage in the trade war – a proxy for whether China perceives progress is being made or not in the negotiations.
In response to WTO-illegal European subsidies to its aircraft industry, the U.S. administration is reportedly considering what is known as “carousel” retaliation against the EU – a regular rotation of goods targeted for tariffs, designed to impose maximum pain. The United States and Europe have been on this ride before.
With all the focus on tariffs these days, it is easy to overlook the return of another tool used to limit imports: quotas. Both quotas and tariffs are used to protect domestic industries by artificially raising prices in the domestic market. Their administration and effects, however, differ in specific ways.
As negotiations continue toward a trade agreement, President Trump and President Xi of China have imposed tariffs on each country’s products in an unprecedented trade war. If you’ve lost track of how we got here, here is a handy quick guide to recent events unfolding in the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.
California almond growers have reason to worry about access to one of their biggest export markets. The Indian government increased tariffs on U.S. shelled almonds by 20 percent and non-shelled almonds by 17 percent in June. The increased cost is forecasted to cause a five percent drop in U.S. almond exports to India, impacting the 6,800 almond growers in California, who are mostly small to medium-size, family-run enterprises.
U.S. businesses are preparing for another possible wave of tariffs while seeking product exclusions from existing tariffs on goods from China. Find out how the Trump administration is responding to these product exclusion requests, and keep track of the “tranches” or waves of tariffs announced or implemented by the administration using our graphic.
Economists can’t tell you how tariffs impact your own business, your job or your shopping cart. Nonetheless, as tariffs are set to go higher, we look at how economists are dialing the tariffs into their forecasts about growth for the U.S. and global economy.
There are rough waters ahead for shippers dealing with the tariff uncertainties. The prospect of tariff hikes is incentivizing companies to lock in better shipping prices now. But many retailers are competing just to find space for their goods on an ocean carrier, and the shipment surge has resulted in massive congestion at ports and warehouses.