The U.S.-China War Over Trade and Tariffs, Explained

What started in 2018 with U.S. levies on imported washing machines and solar panels to protect domestic producers escalated into a cycle of tariffs, talks, threats and truces that rocked financial markets. Behind all the sparring between the U.S. and China -- one an incumbent superpower, the other a rising one -- over tariff levels and targeted product lists are broader and more formidable issues such as market access, intellectual property, national security, the proper role of government in the economy and a deepening competition for advantage in emerging technologies.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who calls himself “Tariff Man,” says China and other trading partners have long taken advantage of the U.S., an argument that enjoys broad support in Washington across party lines. He points to the trade deficit (the difference between imports and exports) as evidence of a hollowing out of U.S. manufacturing and the loss of American might. Over more than year, he ratcheted up tariffs, which are a tax on imports, while encouraging U.S. companies hurt by them to move production — and jobs — back home.