Crashing ecconomy

Trump’s new tariffs have already surpassed every tariff he imposed during his first term

From CNN's Matt Egan

President Donald Trump’s blanket tariffs on China take aim at a wider swath of imports than the levies he imposed during his first term in the White House.

Trump’s 10% tariff on all Chinese products took effect on Tuesday. The United States imported about $427 billion worth of goods from China in 2023, the most recent year that data is available.

That exceeds the various tariffs Trump imposed during his first administration on roughly $380 billion of foreign goods, according to estimates from the Tax Foundation.

Those levies during his first term included tariffs on everything from items made in China to washing machines and steel and aluminum made in other countries.

Trump originally set in motion tariffs on about $1.4 trillion of imported goods scheduled to go into effect on Tuesday. However, Trump later paused the planned tariffs on Mexico and Canada shortly before they took effect.

Bobby Djavaheri, president of Yedi Houseware Appliances, told CNN on Tuesday that his company will eat some, but not all, of the cost of higher tariffs on air fryers, waffle makers and other appliances imported from China. He said the rest of the cost of the tariffs will be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.

The appliance executive added that uncertainty over tariffs makes it almost impossible to reasonably project sales and costs.

“Being in the dark is very frustrating. We don’t know what’s coming tomorrow,” he said.