Trump’s Tariffs
Posted by James Zhang.
According to news reports, in response to the President Trump’s announcement of new import taxes on $200 billion in Chinese goods, the Chinese government will plan to retaliate by imposing new tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. exports. What does the American public say about this escalated trade war between the two largest economies?
Across Twitter, regarding Trump’s Tariffs, the volume of conversation is high. More than 76,000 tweets indicates that the public is knowingly concerned with the escalated trade war between the U.S. and China. The conversation on Twitter reached a peak (25,000 tweets) on Monday, September 18, when President Trump announced new import taxes on $200 billion in Chinese goods.
Regarding the issue of Trump’s tariffs, the chatter on Twitter is centered around the following key words: Trump, China, trade, tariffs, and economy.
Overall, the majority of Twitter users reacted to Trump’s tariffs in a negative way. A sentiment analysis on those tweets illuminates that more than two thirds of Twitter users hold a negative attitude toward the escalated trade war between the U.S. and China.
One of the most trending tweets regarding to the trade war is about China’s reaction to Trump’s tariffs and how the U.S. will react if China retaliated. The World Trade Organization (WTO)’s mediating role in de-escalating the trade war between the U.S. and China is also a part of conversation.
The economy is one of the most hotly debated topics on social media. With the trade war between the U.S. and China being escalated, the public will continue to focus their attention on how tariffs will affect the price of popular products, consumers, the stock market, andthe Trump administration’s foreign policy.