Chinese children peek from behind a trash can at a McDonald's in Beijing in October 2000, the month the United States granted China permanent normal trade relations.
The consequences of the U.S. fight with China over trade are slowly coming into focus. On April 3, President Donald Trump's administration unveiled a list of 1,333 products to which it intends to apply a 25 percent tariff. In 2017, these goods altogether were worth about $50 billion in trade. Just a few hours later, China released its proportional response: 25 percent tariffs on 106 products, also worth $50 billion in trade. The Trump administration had announced plans to levy a 25 percent tariff on 1,300 products last month in response to its Section 301 investigation into the legality of China's intellectual property rights policies, and this week it delivered the goods. Trump has been pushing for powerful tariffs that would hit China hard, and China was sure to retaliate.
