Who's paying for this tariff war anyway?

There is one big misconception that our president is spreading regarding our current trade war. The president recently tweeted that the Chinese government is paying the U.S. Treasury millions of dollars in tariffs.

This is simply not true. The American consumers are paying for this trade war. I run a business that creates products for the housewares industry and our manufacturing is done in China. And before you become critical of this, understand that we employ nine Americans who are all supporting families and we pay our fair share of taxes both locally and federally.

Last September, when the initial 10 percent tariff was levied on Chinese made goods, we were able to hold our prices on some products but we had to raise some prices to our retailers such as Walmart, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and The Container Store. Inevitably this meant the retail prices were raised because of it.

If the current threat of 25 percent tariffs are added to our cost, we will be raising our wholesale prices again, which in turn will raise consumer prices from a typical $19.99 to $24.99. I'm pretty sure the Chinese government is not going to be paying that for you.

It's important everyone knows the truth.

Mark Greenwood

Arlington Heights