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An aerial view of Dalian Port, Northeast China's Liaoning Province. Photos: VCG

The Trump administration's wielding of the big "tariff stick" against Mexico, Canada and China, the US' three biggest trading partners, has drawn growing criticism and concerns from the US business community, with some warning of a "larger, longer lasting" impact on the US economy than that of the tariffs imposed during President Donald Trump's first term.

After announcing 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, Trump on Monday temporarily suspended the tariffs for one month, but what will transpire after the pause remains unclear. 

The 10 percent tariff on imports from China went into effect on Tuesday. In response, China has announced that it will impose additional tariffs on certain US products starting from February 10, and the country has filed a lawsuit with the WTO against the US' tariff hikes.

Asked about whether China will make more responses to US tariffs, He Yongqian, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday that China does not start trade friction and is willing to address issues through dialogue, but it will definitely take necessary measures to safeguard its rights and interests against unilateral bullying.

Additionally, the BBC reported Trump had hinted that tariffs on EU goods could happen "pretty soon."

Meanwhile, criticism is piling up. US Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee warned on Wednesday US time that overlooking the inflationary risks of tariffs would be a critical misstep, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example of how supply chain disruptions can fuel inflation, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Goolsbee said that this time, "tariffs may apply to more countries or more goods or at higher rates, in which case the impact could turn out to be larger and longer lasting," compared to 2018 when Trump put import duties in place during his first administration.

US carmaker Ford Motor Co warned that its profit may fall by $2 billion or more this year on lower vehicle prices and costly new-model launches, exacerbating concerns over potential tariff hikes and waning demand for electric vehicles, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. 

US toy making giant Mattel said it may increase its prices in the US to make up for the impact of Trump's tariffs, the BBC reported, noting that about 40 percent of the maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels' production is based in China. 

The head of International at the US Chamber of Commerce, John Murphy, said that Trump's tariff plan will only "raise prices for American families and upend supply chains," according to the report. 

The Entertainment Software Association, the trade group representing video game publishers in the US, has issued a statement saying the Trump administration's tariff hikes will likely do serious harm to the gaming industry and gamers alike.

"Video games are one of the most popular and beloved forms of entertainment for Americans of all ages. Tariffs on video game devices and related products would negatively impact hundreds of millions of Americans and would harm the industry's significant contributions to the US economy," the association said.

Huo Jianguo, a vice chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday that opposition from US businesses to Trump's tariffs is expected, "as US importers and consumers will suffer significant losses due to the additional tariffs."

Trump's tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China would cost the typical US household at least $1,200 a year due to their effect on consumer prices, according to a new analysis released by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based think tank, on Wednesday.

"Tariffs can only increase inflation, the higher they are, the worse their effects," Radhika Desai, professor of Department of Political Studies at University of Manitoba in Canada, told the Global Times in December after Trump repeatedly made tariff threats. "Outside the US, the tariffs will only push other countries to reduce their relations with an increasingly untrustworthy economic partner."

Moreover, "the effect of tariffs is not as useful as the Trump administration has stated [in achieving its objectives], given the economic development stage of the US economy," Tu Xinquan, dean of China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Data have shown that since the US imposed additional tariffs on Chinese products in 2018, the US' trade deficit in goods continues to widen, while the US' manufacturing sector has not seen significant improvement, Tu noted.

Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, also said on Wednesday that trade and tariff wars have no winners, and putting pressure on China or threatening China will lead nowhere.

"China urges the US to correct its wrongdoings, address each other's concerns through equal-footed consultation, and promote the steady, sound and sustainable development of China-US relationship," Lin said.