As tensions continue to rise between the US and China over the ongoing trade dispute, both sides are now feeling the effect.
China’s currency has fallen to an 11-year low, while the US dollar is now at around a three-year low.
The two countries have been imposing tariffs on billions of dollars of one another’s goods, and despite hints that negotiations may be making progress, no concrete evidence of an impending deal is visible.
Just before speaking at Monday’s Faith and Freedom BBQ in Anderson, Senator Lindsey Graham went on “Face the Nation,” where he said he believes that in order to get China to change its trade practices, the US will have to experience “some economic pain.”
Graham was asked how much pain he thought consumers here in the Palmetto State should expect.
His answer?
“Some. Consumers prices on commodities are going to go up,” Graham said. “We’re now at that part in the trade war where you’ll feel prices increase at Walmart.”
Graham said he admits that President Trump is beginning to distance himself from earlier statements in which he claimed that the tariffs would have “no impact” on US consumers, with Trump taking a more measured tone moving forward.
“The president has backed off because he’s worried about the Christmas shopping season,” Graham said bluntly.
Despite this, Graham said he believes the president should stand firm in his pushback against China’s unfair trade practices.
“I tell ya, Mr. President, listen – you’ve got more bullets than they do. They sell us a lot more stuff than we sell them and the goal is to get them to change their behavior.”
Speaking on the same show after Graham, national economic adviser Larry Kudlow echoed Graham’s claims, saying that he believes China is the one who will feel the harshest impact from the trade war, and not the US.
