In March 22, 2018, US President Donald Trump’s administration took unilateral initiatives through

presidential memorandum to impose substantial tariff on imported products from China, in what many
consider as an escalation of trade war between the two global economic power. Stephen (2018)
asserts that the trade deficit between the US and China has been a point of contention to the US.
There have been assertions that the increase in imports from China have resulted in Job losses and
more importantly in the manufacturing sector. However, according to US-China Business
Council(2017), there have been arguments that strong trade  ties between the US and China have
culminated in several benefits to the US economy such as the ability of the US to penetrate China’s
large and lucrative customer base and provide consumer goods at lower prices attained through low
production cost.

 The United States International Trade Commission (nd) highlights the findings with recommendations
to be adopted. The outcome of the section 201 investigation assert that increased imports of solar
cells and washers are significant precursor of serious injury on domestic industry and hence, it was
proposed that there was need of  tariff rate quotas on the products. The outcome of section 232 of the
investigation indicates that the imports of aluminum and steel have high risk of impairing US national
security ad hence, the report recommended increasing the tariffs  as a restrictive measures to imports
of aluminum from Venezuela, Hong- Kong, Vietnam, Russia and China so as to facilitate the US
domestic production of aluminum. As a result, Donald Trump imposed an additional tariff of 25% of
steel while aluminum attracted a tariff of 10%. The outcomes of section 301 investigation revealed the
China’s policies, actions and practices that facilitate the transfer of technology are restrictive and
burdensome to the US commerce. As a result, the US undertook a number of actions against China
on three arenas and these are tariffs, WTO dispute settlement and investment restrictions. According
to the White House (2018), President Trump gave a memorandum announcing the USTR would list
the proposed imports from China that would be subjected to tariffs. The proposed list had 1333
product lines that included electrical parts, machine parts, motor vehicles and color televisions.
Furthermore, an addition tariff of 25% would be imposed on industrially significant technology worth
more than US$50 billion including those under the category of “made in China 2015” programs.

According to the ministry of commerce, the people republic of China (MOFCOM) (2018), the Chinese
government was highly critical of the action to impose tariff on imports from China stating that the US
had ignored dialogue and consensus reached by the two countries and had intentionally declared
a trade war. As a result, the tariffs had impacted negatively on the interest of both nations and had
wrecked havoc on the world trade order. 

As a response to safeguard measures and findings of the section 201 investigations, where the US
imposed tariffs on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and washing machines, China Requested for a
WTO dispute settlement framework to address the issues involving the two major products. In
reaction o section 232 investigation where the US SLAPPED tariffs on aluminium and steel, the
Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council (CTCSC) declared that to offset the losses caused
by the US import tariffs, I would increase the tariff on various imports from the US including Aluminum
waste and scrap, pork products and selected nuts and fruits. As a response to the outcome and
restrictive measures imposed on the basis of section 301 investigations, China took several retaliatory
measures. In response to section, the retaliatory measures included imposing a tariff of 25% on
airplanes, automobiles, agricultural products, and chemical products. The products were valued at
$50 billion. The imposition, according to (MOFCOM) was to protect the legitimate interest and rights of
Chinese. However, China initiated the trade dispute with WTO in regards to us measures based on
section 301 investigations and restrictive measures. As a response to final list OF Chinese products
that were subjected to 25% tariff, China imposed 25% tariff on US tariff. The products were including
automobiles, agricultural products, chemical and aquatic products.

There are several impacts that the trade war could have on the US and these have both
positive and negative effects. According to Congressional Research Service (2018) the
issue of trade deficit has been a major point of concern to the US where in 2017, the
trade deficit between the two nations was US$375.6%.Given that the impact of the trade
war has heavily affected Chinese business interests, China has been compelled
to address the issue of unfair trade practices and is currently developing policies that
could favor US organizations in its market.  Although China can seek the supply of soya beans
from other nations such as Canada, the aggregate global supply of the product will be low to fulfill it
demand and may make the products more expensive.