Former WA Governor and U.S. ambassador to China: Trump’s tariffs ‘make absolutely no sense’ ahead of overnight rollout

Tariffs — totaling 104% — are set to go into effect overnight on goods the U.S. imports from China. Meanwhile, China is threatening its own retaliatory tariffs.

Former Washington State Governor Gary Locke, a third-generation Chinese American who served as U.S. Ambassador to China from 2011 to 2014, told KIRO Newsradio Tuesday that the tariffs “make absolutely no sense.”

“They will simply raise the cost of goods that Americans pay because this is a tax that the importer, the U.S. company purchasing these items, must pay before they can unload them off the ships or at the docks,” he added.

Former U.S. Ambassador to China: Tariffs will heavily impact Costco, Home Depot, Apple

Locke said the trade war might affect more products than consumers might think.

“When tariffs are going to be almost 50% on South Korean products–that means those Samsung and LG televisions and appliances will cost the Costcos of the world, the Home Depots of the world and the appliance stores of the world, 50% more,” he explained. “They’re simply going to pass those costs on to the consumer. And the same thing with China, those Apple phones that are made in China, it will cost Apple to bring those phones in twice as much money when they bring them into the United States.”

Locke also noted that a trade war between the world’s biggest economies would not be good for either country.

“Americans will buy less, and that means China will make less because the demand is lower,” he shared. “That means more unemployment for the Chinese people. So it’s not good for China either.

“And then when China retaliates against the United States, as it has announced, 34% tariffs, that means American goods cost more in China, and so the Chinese will, instead of buying soybeans or Boeing airplanes, they’ll buy the soybeans from Brazil. They’ll buy Airbus. They don’t have to buy GE medical equipment. They can buy the German medical equipment. So that means American companies sell less to China, which is a major market for American companies,” he continued.

What would need to happen to get both countries back on track?

When asked if the Trump administration can negotiate with China, Locke responded that China is “a very proud country.”

“They don’t want to be seen as capitulating to what they perceive as a bully,” he added.

So, if China doesn’t want to budge and Trump is standing his ground, what is Locke’s advice?

“Well, we either need business leaders to do some shuttle diplomacy, or we need some retired diplomats or people from other countries to engage in that back and forth and to try to propose a reduction, a de-escalation of this tariff war,” he said.

Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest

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