Trump’s trade war will boomerang at US, warns study

US President Donald Trump targeted China in his aggressive trade war to serve America's interests first but a recent study has shown that things are not turning out to his idea as his actions are set to hurt America's agricultural workers the most.

According to an AP report, a study commissioned by the Consumer Technology Association and the National Retail Federation which is resistant to the Trump administration's tariffs on Chinese imports said it would hit US gross domestic product by $2.9 billion and cost around 1,34,000 jobs. The number of jobs in agriculture that would be hit is more than 67,000, the study said.

The study even said that 77,500 positions would be wiped out in states where Trump won in the presidential election of 2016, the report added.

National Retail Federation's president and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement that the dispute must be resolved without adopting tariffs and retaliation that kill jobs, the report added.

America's Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and other officials are set to visit China this week to carry out trade talks with Beijing's officials.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday, May 1, who would be in the team heading to China, said he was not looking to change China's state-controlled economic system during the trade talks but to seek the country opening up more to foreign competition, a Reuters report said.

The Trump administration has targeted Chinese products in a series of decisions in 2018 to penalise the Asian power on charges of theft of technology transfer and intellectual property.

China, too, effected retaliation on its part and also moved the World Trade Organisation against the US at which Trump sought consideration of an additional tariff worth US$100 billion, triggering fears about a full-fledged trade war which could affect global trade.

The study said the US protectionism would boost the sectors of electronics and machinery manufacturing and create jobs there but at the same time, it would kill four jobs for one created during the initial years following the imposition of the tariffs. It said higher prices would shoo away the consumers and especially the farmers would be hit by Chinese duties.

Gary Shapiro, Consumer Technology Association's chief executive and president, said in a statement that rising expenses on farmers, manufacturer and service providers wasn't the solution and it ultimately showed that protectionism would harm the US more than not, the report added.