Trump angers biz groups with $200B tariff threat

President Trump’s plans to hit China with $200 billion more in tariffs is roiling global markets, angering business groups and putting lawmakers on edge in an important election year.

The two countries show no signs of backing down as each levies tit-for-tat tariffs, raising the specter of a full-scale trade war.

{mosads}Trump doubled down on Tuesday, telling a group of business leaders it is time for the U.S. to get tough on China for its unwillingness to change aggressive and unfair trade policies.

“We’re going to get smart, and we’re going to do it right,” Trump told the National Federation of Independent Business in Washington.

Trump said China could still reach out to make a deal, but he saw no signs that would happen.

“We have no choice with China, it’s time folks, it’s time,” he insisted.

Trump’s comments come after he directed U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for a 10 percent import tax.

That move was only the latest salvo in a quickly escalating trade fight.

But the size of the potential tariffs sent global markets reeling, with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging more than 300 points, threatening to wipe out the year’s gains.

Business groups, which have expressed open frustration with Trump’s trade policies, called on lawmakers to quickly intervene and take more oversight on tariff decisions.

The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) was one of a wide range of business groups — from footwear to bankers, oil and automakers — blasting the threatened tariffs and calling for greater congressional control over Trump’s trade policies.

“We strongly believe that, in order to change the current path that the administration has chosen to take on trade, Congress must reassert itself and oversee our country’s trade policy, especially the use of unilateral tariffs,” said Rufus Yerxa, president of the NFTC, in a letter to trade lawmakers signed by more than 60 of the group’s members.

The National Retail Federation also urged lawmakers to act to prevent a trade war. President and CEO Matthew Shay said the tariffs “threaten to sap the energy out of the strong U.S. economy just as most Americans are starting to enjoy the benefits of historic tax reform.”

“This reckless escalation is the latest reminder that Congress must step in and exert its authority on trade policy,” Shay added.

Elizabeth Hyman, executive vice president for public advocacy at tech industry group CompTIA, acknowledged the need for China to “be held accountable.”

But Hyman likened a new massive round of tariffs to “cutting off our nose to spite our face.”

Jose Castaneda, spokesman for the Information Technology Industry Council, said the “decision to escalate trade tensions with China is irresponsible and counterproductive.”

That frustration is also seen in Congress, where lawmakers from both parties have criticized Trump’s tariffs.

But in the Senate, lawmakers rejected an effort from Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) last week to attach a measure to the annual defense policy bill reining in Trump’s tariff authority. Corker’s bill, which would have required the president to send proposed tariffs to Congress for approval, is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 13 lawmakers.

After the latest tariff threat, Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he is hopeful his legislation will gain new momentum.

“I hope that at some point as pressure builds, as chaos is created in other countries and around the world, as our leadership role in the world continues to take a hit and be challenged, I hope the United States Senate will rise to the occasion,” Corker said on the Senate floor.

Lawmakers will also have an opportunity to air their worries on Wednesday, when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross testifies at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Trump’s trade actions.

There also are concerns about whether a new round of tariffs could risk Trump’s push to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

Even as lawmakers and business groups expressed dismay at more tariffs, however, administration officials stood fast.

Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, a China hawk, told reporters Tuesday that there had been no progress after multiple rounds of talks between the world’s two largest economies — and no plans for further talks at this time.

“Our phone lines are open. They have always been open,” Navarro said. “But there is a fundamental reality here and that is that talk is cheap.”

China also took a hard-line stance.

The country’s Ministry of Commerce called the latest threat of tariffs an “act of extreme pressure and blackmail” and said it would strike back with more countermeasures.

The first round, about $34 billion of those $50 billion in U.S. tariffs, announced on Friday, will go into effect on July 6. A second round valued at $16 billion is still being reviewed, according to Lighthizer.

Trump has already put in place steel and aluminum tariffs on China and key allies, in addition to $50 billion in tariffs against China over alleged intellectual property theft. Trump officials are also working on another batch of tariffs on auto imports.

Business groups are bracing themselves for further retaliation from China.

Business Roundtable, a group of the nation’s top CEOs, criticized what they called a “shoot first” approach.

“Risking a trade war with more tariffs will only invite more retaliation that will cause significant harm to the U.S. economy,” the group said.

One administration official acknowledged the growing anxiety.

“We’re going from an old world to a new world. We’re going to get to that new world — that’s a big, positive change in trade policy,” Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Monday.

“The uncertainty over it now is definitely palpable.”