Rising US-China trade tensions play into hand of trade hawks

THE escalating trade dispute between the US and China continues to simmer, with President Donald Trump threatening last Friday a fourth round of tariffs on US$267 billion worth of Chinese imports.

That would come on top of two rounds of 25 per cent tariffs on US$50 billion on Chinese imports that are already in force, and imminent duties on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods including popular electronic products manufactured by Apple Inc.

"Nobody has ever done what I've done," President Trump told reporters on Friday. "The US$200 billion we're talking about could take place very soon . . . To a certain extent, it's going to be up to China," he said, adding that "there's another US$267 billion ready to go on short notice if I want", and "that totally changes the equation".