Winners and Losers in the US-China Trade War
The U.S. applied tariffs of 10 to 50 percent on $362 billion of imports from China in 2018-2019. In response, China retaliated by imposing tariffs of similar magnitude on $107 billion dollars of U.S. exports. This type of behavior is commonly referred to as a “trade war’. The U.S.-China trade war resulted in a tripling of the average U.S. duty on imports, rising from 1.6 percent to 5.5. The Trump administration’s main stated objectives of imposing such tariffs were to preserve value of U.S. intellectual property and to create jobs at home, with assurances that this would happen without any cost to U.S. firms or consumers. In this lecture, Dr Amiti will examine the consequences of the U.S.-China trade war on the U.S. economy, and show that the Trump administration’s objectives were not met, instead, the trade-war imposed very large losses on U.S. consumers and firms.
About the Presenter:
Mary Amiti is the Head of Labor and Product Market Studies within the Monetary Policy Research Division at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Prior to joining the Bank, she held positions at the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University and the University of Pompeu Fabra. She graduated with a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1997, with a specialization in international trade. She is a co-editor of the Journal of International Economics. She is a Research Associate of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and a Fellow of the Econometric Society.
Mary has published in leading journals such as the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economics and Statistics, and Journal of International Economics. Her research interests include trade finance; the effects of trade liberalization on productivity, wages, the wage skill premium, and product quality; exchange rate pass-through and dominant currencies; and global value chains and inflation.
Background: Corden Public Lecture
The Corden Public Lecture Series is named after Professor Max Corden, one of Australia’s most famous economists, Professor Corden contributed to the field of economics, not only through his own work, but also through his long and extensive teaching career, during which he shaped the thinking of many of today’s great economists. Professor Corden is mostly known for his work on the theory of trade protection, including the development of the Dutch disease model of international trade. He has also been active in the fields of international monetary systems, macroeconomic policies of developing countries and Australian economics.
The 2024 Corden Lecture will be delivered in-person.
For additional information please email fbe-lectures@unimelb.edu.au
