China, Russia and other countries have developed retaliatory options that could deeply hurt America’s economy and standard of living.

The Trump administration’s senior trade counselor also dismissed concerns that the president forced only minor concessions from Canada and Mexic

Punishing 25% levies on imports from America’s closest neighbors were due to come into force at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday, but Trump put his two-front trade war on hold, claiming he’d scored two big wins and major concessions.

China is subject to significant US tariffs already and has been since Trump's first term. But the blanket nature of today's new levies from the White House on every single goods import from China - from toys, to mobile phones, to clothes - is new and significant.

These aren’t tariffs, they’re taxes, in this case, trade taxes. And these trade taxes aren’t going to be paid by China or Canada. They will be paid by American companies—like Walmart, which imports apparel,

The president’s trade assault, which makes no distinction between ally and adversary, is an assertion of U.S. dominance with significant risks.

Donald Trump made good on his promise to impose trade barriers on key US trading partners. Citing the influx of narcotics and “illegal aliens,” the president announced a 25 percent tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada (with a 10 percent carve-out for Canadian energy imports),