Meltdown 101: China-US Trade Spat And Tire Prices

BREE FOWLER

China and the U.S. are bickering over tariffs on tires and exports of chicken.

The political back-and-forth could hurt businesses on both sides — some of them already struggling — and it could also affect consumers. Most notably: You could see rising prices for tires from China, and fewer price cuts on the ones that aren't imported from there.

Here are some questions and answers about the trade dispute.

Q: What is happening?

A: Let's start with Friday. That's when President Barack Obama approved raising the tariff — a tax on imported goods — on all car and light truck tires from China, in an effort to slow the growth of U.S. imports of Chinese-made tires. Unions blame the growth of these imports for the loss of thousands of American jobs.

China accused the U.S. of protectionism and said the move violates World Trade Organization rules. On Sunday, China announced it would investigate complaints that American exports of auto and chicken products benefit from government subsidies or are being dumped in China, meaning sold there at below market prices.