MARKET ALERT: Trump's tariffs putting the squeeze on the Midwest (BBC)

BBC News reports on the impacts of the Trump administration's increasing tariffs on Chinese exports and retaliatory import fees implemented by China on companies in the Midwest. "You're basically adding 15% on top of the already existing 7.8% tariff on ginseng, plus VAT. So you are basically talking about 30% tariffs," says Will Hsu, managing director of Hsu Ginseng. "It's very difficult, often that is the margin on your products, and if you can't make that margin you ask yourself why am I even in this business?" The article also details how the escalating tariffs are indirectly impacting a wide variety of businesses, even those that don't export goods to China.

September 20, 2018

BBC News

Trump's tariffs putting the squeeze on the Midwest

Wisconsin calls itself America's Dairyland, but just outside the small town of Wausau you can find a less traditional crop - ginseng.

It is said to be among the finest in the world and certainly Will Hsu, the managing director of Hsu Ginseng, believes it is. ...

The crops ready for harvesting this year were planted in 2013, long before President Trump was elected, let alone before he started a trade war with China.

But earlier this year, after the Trump administration started putting tariffs on Chinese exports to the US, China slapped retaliatory import fees on a host of American products, including ginseng.

For Will Hsu that has been very painful.