WASHINGTON – From toys to clothes to shoes to cellphones, Americans buy a half-trillion dollars’ worth of goods from China each year — the biggest haul of imports from any one country. And that means the prices of many such products could surge as a result of President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China.
White House officials say they will try to minimize any price increases for American shoppers. Instead, they suggested Thursday that the tariffs would mostly target products that businesses, rather than consumers, buy: Computers, information technology products, industrial machinery and aircraft parts.
Analysts note, though, that many businesses would eventually pass on any higher import costs to consumers in the form of higher prices.
