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The impact of US tariffs against China on US imports: evidence for trade diversion?

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  • Cigna, Simone
  • Meinen, Philipp
  • Schulte, Patrick
  • Steinhoff, Nils

Abstract

In this paper we provide evidence on the existence of short-run trade diversion effects towards third countries as a consequence of tariff shocks. We exploit sudden policy changes in the context of the trade dispute between the US and China. Based on a data set covering monthly product-level information on US imports from 30 countries for the period January 2016 until May 2019, we employ a difference-in-differences estimation framework. Doing so, we (1) can confirm previous findings showing a strong negative direct effect of US tariffs on US imports from China, but (2) do not find evidence for significant short-run trade diversion effects towards third countries. This latter finding holds for product and country subgroups as well as for a variety of robustness checks. JEL Classification: F13, F14, F61

Suggested Citation

  • Cigna, Simone & Meinen, Philipp & Schulte, Patrick & Steinhoff, Nils, 2020. "The impact of US tariffs against China on US imports: evidence for trade diversion?," Working Paper Series 2503, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20202503
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Sijia & Steinbach, Sandro, 2020. "Measuring the Impact of Sunset Reviews on Agricultural and Food Trade," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304566, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. He, Chuan & Mau, Karsten & Xu, Mingzhi, 2021. "Trade Shocks and Firms Hiring Decisions: Evidence from Vacancy Postings of Chinese Firms in the Trade War," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Christian Grimme, 2020. "Zu den globalen Leistungsbilanzsalden im Jahr 2019," ifo Schnelldienst, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 73(02), pages 49-53, February.
    4. He, Chuan & Mau, Karsten & Xu, Mingzhi, 2021. "Trade Shocks and Firms Hiring Decisions:," Research Memorandum 001, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    difference-in-differences; product-level data; tariffs; trade diversion; US imports;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade

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