Trump Administration Ratchets Up Tariffs, So Far Without Retaliation From China
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as he departs a round of trade talks in Washington on Friday.
Leah Millis/Reuters
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Leah Millis/Reuters
The Trump administration imposed new higher tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods on Friday morning after trade talks failed to yield a deal. But to the surprise of many, China has yet to retaliate with new tariffs of its own.
Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser said on Sunday that he is among those expecting a reaction from China. But so far “the expected countermeasures haven’t yet materialized,” Kudlow said on Fox News Sunday. “I reckon they will. We’ll see what they come up with.”
President Trump had struck a genial tone in tweets on Friday, calling the talks “candid and constructive.” But he struck a very different note Saturday, when he came out swinging at a number of targets.
“I think that China felt they were being beaten so badly in the recent negotiation that they may as well wait around for the next election, 2020, to see if they could get lucky & have a Democrat win – in which case they would continue to rip-off the USA for $500 Billion a year,” he tweeted. “The only problem is that they know I am going to win (best economy & employment numbers in U.S. history, & much more), and the deal will become far worse for them if it has to be negotiated in my second term. Would be wise for them to act now, but love collecting BIG TARIFFS!”
Kudlow was considerably more measured on Sunday. He emphasized the talks’ ongoing nature, and discouraged the term “trade war,” saying that the tariffs were simply part of the negotiations.
Trump and Xi will likely talk at the G20 summit late next month in Japan, Kudlow said, and China’s ambassador has invited U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to Beijing.
Tariffs on Chinese goods increased from 10% to 25% on Friday, making the underlying cost of those items higher for U.S. customers. The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on Chinese goods before, and in each case, China was quick to impose tariffs on U.S. products. It was expected that Beijing would raise tariffs on U.S. goods to 25%.
But that hasn’t happened yet. And it’s not clear why not.
Wei Jianguo, a former vice-minister at the Ministry of Commerce who handled foreign trade, told the South China Morning Post that China was prepared for a long trade war.
“China will not only act as a kung fu master in response to US tricks, but also as an experienced boxer and can deliver a deadly punch at the end,” Wei said.
With the talks in limbo, Chinese stock markets dipped on Monday, and the yuan hit a four-month low. But markets there are still higher than analysts had predicted.
Who pays?
Trump has repeatedly framed the tariffs as primarily hurting China. For instance, last week at the White House, he said, “Our country can take in $120 billion a year in tariffs. Paid for mostly by China, by the way. Not by us. A lot of people try and steer it in a different direction. Ultimately it’s paid for largely by China.”
But actually it’s American businesses that will pay the tariffs, and in many cases, pass the expense on to their American customers. In some cases, China might absorb some of the cost to stay competitive, but for the most part, it’s folks in the U.S. that will pay the price.
Kudlow, Trump’s economic adviser, said as much on Sunday. “I don’t disagree with that,” he said to Fox News’s Chris Wallace. But he added that “both sides will suffer on this.”
He downplayed concerns that the tariffs would lead to U.S. job losses and hurt the GDP. “The United States’ economy is in a boom,” he said. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. We have had unfair trading practices all these years and so in my judgment, the economic consequences are so small, but the possible improvement in trade and exports and open markets for the United States — this is worthwhile doing.”
Previous rounds of tariffs is already making life more expensive in the U.S., as NPR’s Yuki Noguchi reports:
“They’ve increased consumer costs by $1.4 billion a month, according to experts from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Princeton and Columbia University. To date, tariffs have largely affected raw materials like chemicals and wooden beams used to make other products, so the cost increases appear incremental to the consumer. But additional new tariffs would boost prices on a broader number of finished goods — things consumers actually buy, like bicycles.
This latest round of tariffs will add another $500 a year in costs for the average American household, says Katheryn Russ, an economics professor at the University of California at Davis. And that could grow. President Trump has pledged to broaden tariffs even further to all Chinese imports — including big-ticket items. ‘Once the tariffs go onto cellphones, I mean then you’re going to see people scream,'” she says.
NPR Shanghai correspondent Rob Schmitz contributed to this report.
Transplants A Cheaper, Better Option For Undocumented Immigrants With Kidney Failure
In most states, undocumented immigrants with kidney failure have to receive dialysis as an emergency treatment in hospital emergency rooms. Some advocates say kidney transplants for undocumented immigrants would be a cheaper way to treat the problem.
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Uninsured, undocumented immigrants often go to the emergency room for treatment. Since 1986 the federal government has required that patients in the emergency room receive care, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay.
But caring for chronic conditions such as kidney disease or cancer in the emergency room is expensive. So some states are quietly expanding access for undocumented immigrants to obtain medical treatment beyond the ER.
One of those states is Washington, where an undocumented immigrant named Gonzalo lives with his wife, Ricarda.
Gonzalo is really sick.
“I can’t enjoy the day — go out — because I’m always unwell,” he said in an interview in Spanish.
Gonzalo moved to the U.S. from Mexico about 30 years ago. He’s 60 years old. We’re not using his last name because of his immigration status.
Ten years ago, Gonzalo’s kidneys failed. Since then, he’s gotten sicker and sicker. Five years ago, he had to quit his job as a painter.
“I used to pay the rent. I paid for everything, and we didn’t lack anything,” he said. “But I got sick and everything changed.”
Now, Gonzalo and his wife live with one of their daughters in her apartment south of Seattle.
Across the country, there are about 6,500 undocumented immigrants with kidney failure, according to the National Institutes of Health. What kind of care they get depends on where they live.
In most states, they can only get dialysis in hospital emergency rooms.
That means, every couple of weeks, they go to the hospital when so many toxins have built up in their body it’s life-threatening. Usually, they have to stay overnight so they can be dialyzed twice. That costs nearly $300,000 per person every year.
So seven states, including Washington, have a different system.
“The state of Washington has something called AEM,” said Leah Haseley, a nephrologist — a kidney doctor — in Seattle. She’s talking about Alien Emergency Medical, part of Washington’s Medicaid.
“AEM pays for two things,” she explained. “They pay for dialysis for undocumented people, and they pay for chemotherapy for cancer treatment for undocumented people as well.”
Regular dialysis costs about a quarter of what emergency dialysis does — but it’s controversial.
“The first time that you show up at a hospital with kidney failure, that’s an emergency,” said Matthew O’Brien, with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for stricter immigration laws. “After that, it’s a chronic condition, and we don’t believe that it’s appropriate to reward lawbreakers with benefits at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.”
But there are others who say even regularly scheduled dialysis isn’t enough: undocumented immigrants who qualify should be given kidney transplants, because the cost of a transplant is less than the ongoing costs of regular or emergency dialysis. But, without health insurance, few undocumented immigrants can afford a transplant.
In 2015, Illinois became the first state with a system for paying for organ transplants for undocumented immigrants.
Dr. David Ansell was a prominent advocate for the change.
“In about a year and a half the cost for a transplant pays itself back,” he said, “but also people can go back to work and contribute to the state.”
So far, more than 200 undocumented immigrants in Illinois have been given access to organ transplants, with their insurance premiums paid for by a non-profit. Now, Dr. Ansell and other public health advocates hope to see a similar program at the national level.
Many who oppose this say, with limited organs available, they should be reserved for citizens and legal immigrants.
But Dr. Ansell says, in Illinois, 75 percent of kidney transplants for undocumented immigrants come from donations from their own family — a much higher rate than the rest of the population.
“If you’re undocumented in Illinois, you can get a driver’s license, and disproportionately the Latino community is signing up to donate their organs,” Dr. Ansell added. “It’s a simple matter of ethics and fairness.”
He said, since Illinois started paying for the transplants, the total number of organs available has increased, because so many more Latinos have signed up for organ donation.
Overall in the US, studies have found that undocumented immigrants donate 2 to 3% of all organs.
Back in the Seattle area, Gonzalo says all three of his daughters are willing to give him a kidney, but he has no way to pay for the transplant.
That’s why his wife, Ricarda, says she’s taken to buying lottery tickets.
She said in Spanish, “I’ve told my husband, ‘If I win the lottery, I won’t think twice. I’m going to get you a kidney.'”
