The Trump administration raised the stakes in a trade dispute with China by proposing a 10 percent tariff on USD 200 billion of Chinese goods on 10 July 2018. These tariffs were in addition to USD 50 billion already officially imposed on China. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce immediately responded, warning of similar retaliation. But while tariffs can reduce competition from foreign firms at home, they can also raise the costs of imported inputs for domestic firms, leading domestic consumers and firms that depend heavily on foreign produced goods to suffer.

So, what are the costs of the trade war between the US and China? Are there any spillover effects to Europe, Japan, Korea and the rest of the world? This lunch briefing will examine the economic costs and the financial market responses to the Trump administration’s initial and subsequent tariffs on imports from China.

Professor Huang is Associate Professor of International Economics and a research affiliate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). He was an economist in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund as well as a research associate for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and the Institute of Digital Finance at Peking University. He also worked as a research fellow at the Bank for International Settlements and Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research and held visiting positions at the University of California, Berkeley; London Business School; Imperial College Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Huang also serves on the Council on Global Economic Imbalances of the World Economic Forum.

Professor Huang’s research consists of international macroeconomics and finance. His current work focuses on credit markets, fintech and entrepreneurship. His research has been published in academic journals such as the Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Finance, Economic Policy and AEA Papers and Proceedings.