Tariffs on China could cost thousands of US jobs

The tariffs already enacted by the Trump administration could cost the United States more than 45,000 full-time jobs, and if the US follows through with $200 billion in extra duties on Chinese products, another 255,000 jobs may be lost as a result, according to a recent report released by the US Tax Foundation project.

"Economists nearly unanimously agree that tariffs have negative economic effects, and this has been observed time and time again when countries impose tariffs," said Erica York, an analyst with the Center for Federal Tax Policy at the US Tax Foundation, who wrote the report titled The Impact of Enacting President Trump's Tariffs. The foundation is an independent tax policy nonprofit.

"One recent example is when the United States imposed tariffs on steel imports in 2002, more American workers lost their jobs due to higher steel prices than the total number of workers employed by the US steel industry itself," York said.