Economists are expecting President-elect Trump to place tariffs of around 40 percent on Chinese imports, according to a new survey from Reuters.
In the survey of economists, 45 percent said the “level of tariffs imposed by Trump on Chinese goods” will be between 31 and 45 percent. Thirty-five percent said the level would be between 15 and 30 percent and 20 percent said the level would be between 46 and 60 percent.
Trump has heavily backed tariffs as a way of strengthening the U.S. economy, but critics have argued it could lead to higher prices for consumers as trading partners raise their own tariffs on U.S. exports in response to the U.S. tariffs.
U.S. tariffs are generally meant to protect the production of U.S. goods, but can have the effect of raising prices on the goods being hit with tariffs.
Trump has also variously suggested a general tariff of 10 percent and 20 percent aimed at all imported goods to bring investment into the U.S. and boost domestic industry. In his September debate against Vice President Harris, Trump again dug into his promise to increase tariffs on imported goods when discussing economic policy.
“We’re doing tariffs on other countries,” Trump said at the time. “I took in billions and billions of dollars … from China.”
The Reuters survey featured 50 economists and took place between Nov. 13 and 20.
