One month ago, President Trump tweeted, "Trade wars are good, and easy to win."
When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 2, 2018
As the US and China get closer to a trade war, we may soon find out if he's right.
On Wednesday, China swung back hard against the President's proposed tariffs on 1,300 Chinese imports. Beijing says it intends to slap 25 percent duties on the top products the US exports to China: airplanes, soybeans, and cars. That adds up to $50 billion in retaliatory tariffs.
Daniel Howes, Detroit News business columnist, joined Stateside to share what that means for automakers.
Listen to the conversation above to hear how worried the companies seem, how Howes thinks negotiations might play out, and how the industry's connections with the current administration could make a difference.
(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or with this RSS link)
