President-elect Trump has stated that he will impose a tariff on all foreign goods coming into the United States. The U.S. currently has trade agreements with 20 countries and, additionally, is a member of the World Trade Organization that, along with 165 other countries, covers 98 percent of world trade.  Most goods imported in the U.S. are free of duty.  More than 50 percent of world trade uses the U.S. dollar for trade payments.
If Trump actually implements this policy, it will contribute to his political demise.  Import countries will protest by establishing their own tariffs on American imports to their nations and look to other countries to meet their needs.  China has threatened to curtail all imports from the U.S. which amounted to $758 billion in 2023.
China is one of the largest export markets for U.S. goods and services.  The exports include oil products, iron ore, and soybeans.  More importantly, China has indicated that it will stop its exports to the U.S. with no exceptions for exports of key minerals like cobalt, lithium, manganese, magnalium, germanium, and antimony plus ten other critical minerals that are used in manufacturing of semiconductors, military equipment, solar panels, fiber optics and many other essential products.
Another example of pain that China can produce is by halting imports from American farmers, which could bankrupt a large number of them.  If the U.S. decides to subsidize the soy farmers’ losses, it will just add to the need for more domestic tax revenue due to the blanket, indiscriminate use of tariffs.
Trump, in his rhetoric, indicated that China should not only pay a tariff on their exports to the U.S., but a much higher tariff to the U.S., 60 percent, compared to the 20 percent tariff for other nations. 
Currently, China holds $774.6 billion in U.S. treasuries.  If China becomes “unhappy” with the Trump administration singling it out for substantially higher tariff rates, it might retaliate by selling a half trillion dollars of its U.S. treasuries.  
This action would result in lowering of the price of treasuries and a rise in interest rates on treasuries issued.  In another words, it would be more expensive for the U.S. to sell additional necessary bonds, to pay for our continuous deficit financing.  
Trump’s threatened actions remind me of Greek mythology’s opening of Pandora’s box, meaning that the start of a tariff tax war will cause many unforeseen problems, but we do know that it will definitely cause high inflation for Americans.
Gerry Snyder
Ely