The pointless trade war president Donald Trump ignited -- and who bragged will be easy to win -- has made big losers out of both the United States and China to the tune of billions of lost dollars, while inflicting incalculable damage to global growth.
New data from the U.S. federal government show that losses from Trump's trade war with China have cost both sides billions of dollars in lost revenues every month since July. These losses are expected to mount when new U.S. tariffs take effect on March 1 should both countries fail to resolve the crisis, which is highly likely given Trump's inanity.
Trump's trade war has heavily hammered the U.S. auto, technology, and agriculture industries, the latter being the worst hit of the lot. Data confirms Trump's trade war is having an overall detrimental impact on the world's two largest economies.
For example, total U.S. agricultural exports to China for the first 10 months of 2018 plummeted by 42 percent year-on-year to $8.3 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The U.S. tech industry is also being hard hit by Trump's tariffs. A study commissioned by the Consumer Technology Association reveals that U.S. tariffs on imported Chinese equipment are costing the tech industry an additional $1 billion per month.
Trump's trade war is also battering American retail, manufacturing and construction companies that now have to pay more for metal and other goods.
Input price pressures remained high in part due to tariffs, particularly in manufacturing and construction, and firms are struggling to pass these higher costs onto customers, said the Dallas Federal Reserve in a statement.
One American economist said the U.S. and Chinese economies stand to lose more than $2.9 billion annually because of China's tariffs on soybeans, corn, wheat and sorghum alone.
There is no indication, however, that the pain will persuade the clueless Trump and the ideologically-driven Chinese president Xi Jinping to dial-down hostilities. In an extraordinary speech last week, Xi said only total Communist Party control over the economy can solve the massive problems now besetting China.
Xi made no mention at all of any economic reforms or concessions aimed at mitigating or ending the fractious trade war with the U.S.
