American importers pay a significant portion of the increase and US consumers pay the remainder due to the increase on goods manufactured in China. However, China’s economy is slowing, with consumers holding back and infrastructure spending slowing sharply. This slowdown is expected to worsen as America’s tariffs ramp up. On the other hand, the United States has continued to experience vigorous economic growth, including the lowest unemployment rate since 2000.

economic cycle
On May 10, 2019, talks with China ended abruptly; we saw the market tumble more than 600 points. This past Friday, President Trump responded by adding a 25% tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods, substantially increasing the tariffs from their prior 10%.