Economics
Trump’s China Buying Spree Unlikely to Cover Trade War’s Costs
- Administration says China promising $200 billion in purchases
- Estimates of toll on U.S. GDP range from 0.3% to 0.7% in 2019
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President Donald Trump is heading into an election year touting a trade deal that promises to double U.S. exports to China, which he says has pledged a $200 billion, two-year spending spree on everything from airplanes to pork chops and chicken feet.
Yet the inescapable reality is that even this extraordinary splurge -- if it happens -- may not make up the economic cost of the trade war it seeks to defuse.