The free-trade advocacy groups Tariffs Hurt the Heartland and the Trade Partnership have officially calculated that the cost of the trade war from February 2018 to August of this year as $34 billion in tariffs.
The costs of these tariffs have been borne primarily by local consumers and businesses, contrary to the common notion that foreign exporters bear the brunt of the costs.
"Business leaders and economists across the country agree the trade war is seriously damaging our economy, killing American jobs and making goods more expensive for American families and small businesses," said Jonathan Gold, a representative for Tariffs Hurt the Heartland.
In her first speech as managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund said that if the trade war continues at this rate, the global economy as a whole could lose $700 billion by this time next year. This loss is equivalent to the size of Switzerland's entire economy.
As of now, the U.S. is set to raise tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods to 30% from 25% tomorrow, Tuesday October 15. This is going to escalate to include more consumer goods, such as laptops, tech devices and clothes at the end of the year. If there is not an agreement soon, every single product imported from China will likely be taxed by December.
In addition to the actual tariffs, tensions in the U.S.-China relationship have taken the form of China censoring access to NBA games and the U.S. blacklisting certain Chinese companies.
"The Tariff Tracker uses Census' calculated duties data because they are the only publicly available figures that contain the necessary product and country details for analyzing sector trends, state breakdowns, etc.," said Dan Anthony, the vice president of the Trade Partnership.
In a speech on Monday in Montreal, David Malpass, the president of the World Bank, made the global outlook seem even more bleak by saying the organization would lower its most recent forecast for global economic growth. This implies a growth rate of lower than 2.6%, the original June forecast.