Likely damage to China from tariffs only 0.1% of GDP

The tariffs announced today will cause difficulties for some firms exporting from China but will have a barely perceptible impact on China’s wider economy. The key uncertainty now is whether President Trump sees the them as an end in themselves, or whether they are followed by a further escalation when, as seems likely, they fail to narrow the trade imbalance significantly or to trigger a shift in China’s approach to acquiring intellectual property.