By RACHEL LANE

D.C. Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tariffs on Chinese goods are expected to increase this Friday after President Donald Trump’s weekend tweeting.

Days before an expected tariff hike was expected on March 1, Trump backed away from the increases. According to tweets last Sunday, though, the increases are scheduled for May 10. He tweeted that the 10 percent tariff on $200 billion in goods will be increasing to 25 percent, matching some of the tariffs already in place on $50 billion in goods.

He also tweeted an additional $325 billion in unaffected goods will “shortly” be levied at a 25 percent rate. “The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!” Trump wrote.

According to economic reports by the Trade Partnership, raising tariffs to 25 percent and the resulting retaliation could cost nearly 1 million American jobs and reduce the gross domestic product by 0.37 percent.

A joint study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Princeton University, and Columbia University estimates the current tariff rates would reduce income in the United States by $1.4 billion every month. The same report found the existing U.S. tariffs were almost completely passed through to U.S. domestic prices, with no impact on prices for foreign exporters.

David Goldman, author for Asia Times and PJ Media, said he is a Trump supporter but the way the administration is handling the situation with China is not benefiting the U.S. Last week, during a Farm Foundation conference on trade, he said China is being underestimated.

When the trade war started more than a year ago, with tariffs on solar, the Chinese stock market started to decline, but in recent weeks it has stabilized while the U.S. market has started to slide, he explained. Different industries are affected differently – some companies in the tech industry are fine, but the farm income is “grisly,” for instance.

“China is not as susceptible to a trade war as they were 10 years ago,” Goldman opined. To try this method, he said the U.S. is a decade late and $1 trillion short.

Whenever the U.S. has gotten in the way of China doing business, China has caved and reopened the relationship, while asking non-U.S. companies to start making the products needed, to reduce the need China has on the U.S., he said.

It is not just in business, either, Goldman said. Chinese students have been coming to American universities for decades, and many of them want to stay in the U.S., but getting a visa and a job has been too difficult and they’re forced to return to China, taking the knowledge they gained with them.

In 2011, the U.S. sold 75 percent of the world’s semiconductor chips. Next year, that may fall to single-digits, Goldman said.

During the same Farm Foundation meeting, Bruce Hirsh, principal and founder of Tailwind Global Strategies, said China is at the table, but its officials don’t want to be. They are there because of the tariffs and other negative impacts on their country.

He said they might make a deal with the U.S., but he doesn’t think China will feel required to honor the agreements. It will likely claim the agreements were made under duress and whatever agreement is made will slowly be rolled back. It is similar to the tactic being used with Japan and the European Union, he said.

During the Obama administration, movement was made to organize many trade deals, which were seen as providing predictability and security to producers, Hirsh said. That administration was a primary driver behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP.

Removing the U.S. from the TPP was one of the first acts Trump took as president in 2017. Since then, the U.S. has tried to forge a bilateral agreement with Japan, one of the largest agricultural trading partners the U.S. has. A few weeks ago, it was announced the Japanese government has agreed to start discussions.

At about the same time, the Trump administration announced the EU was going to re-enter discussions after years of stonewalling, primarily as a result of disagreement about agriculture. Many in the agriculture industry rejoiced.

But Hirsh said it is too early to celebrate. The EU and Japan have only agreed to discussions because the Trump administration has threatened their countries with tariffs.

Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, a national nonpartisan campaign, released a statement that the tariffs on China are a tax on the American consumers and punish U.S. farmers, businesses, and consumers.

“Republicans and Democrats in Congress need to step up to meet this threat head-on. Job-killing tax hikes on their own constituents should be a non-starter, and in the days ahead, lawmakers must act to protect Americans from this threat,” the statement added.