‘If China closes, that’s our largest market’: US businesses grit their teeth as trade war looms
From cherry farms in Washington state to Midwestern chemical plants to New England lobster-trap makers, the risk of a global trade war is creating anxiety among executives
US President Donald Trump says he wants to level the playing field for American companies in the global economy, but his combative stance has unsettled business plans from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
From cherry farms in the state of Washington to Midwestern chemical plants to New England lobster-trap makers, the risk of a global trade war is creating anxiety among executives whose firms rely on foreign markets for revenue or to keep costs down with imported products.
China ‘ready to hit back’ at Donald Trump’s tariffs
On Friday, Trump announced US$50 billion in tariffs on imports from China. Those came on top of levies he had imposed on imported steel and aluminium from the EU and Canada, which provoked anger and frustration that erupted rancorously at a Group of Seven summit last weekend in Quebec.
As Trump disrupts the rules that have governed global trade for decades, the prospect of a stand-off is rippling through American regions, industries and economic sectors, touching every aspect of business.
In Clinton County, New York, a decision 25 years ago to tie its future to its proximity to Montreal paid off. About 15 per cent of its population of 80,000 works for a Canadian or border-related employer, said Garry Douglas, chief executive officer of the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburgh.
