Before reading the article:

The United States and China have been engaged in a yearlong trade war and, in the last week, it has escalated. On May 13, The Times reported:

The United States and China intensified their trade dispute on Monday, as Beijing said it would increase tariffs on nearly $60 billion worth of American goods and the Trump administration detailed plans to tax nearly every sneaker, computer, dress and handbag that China exports to the United States. The escalation thrust the world’s two largest economies back into confrontation. While President Trump said on Monday that he would meet with China’s president, Xi Jinping, next month in Japan, the stakes are only increasing as the president continues to taunt and threaten China, causing it to retaliate on American businesses.

The articles continues:

China’s Finance Ministry announced Monday that it was raising tariffs on a wide range of American goods to 20 percent or 25 percent from 10 percent. The increase will affect the roughly $60 billion in American imports already being taxed as retaliation for Mr. Trump’s previous round of tariffs, including beer, wine, swimsuits, shirts and liquefied natural gas exported to China. The move came after Mr. Trump increased tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods to as much as 25 percent on Friday, and threatened to move ahead with taxing the remainder of goods that the United States imports from China. The Office of the United States Trade Representative released a list on Monday of the roughly $300 billion worth of products that could face up to a 25 percent tariff and requested public comment, which will begin the formal process for enacting those duties. The list includes almost every consumer product imaginable, from coffee makers to sneakers to telescopic sights for rifles.

Watch the four-minute video “The Anatomy Of A Trade War” from Newsy. As you watch, respond to the following questions:

• What is a tariff?

• Why might tariffs be considered a “double-edged sword”?

• What is a trade war?

• How do trade wars affect citizens?

Now, read the article, “U.S.-China Trade Standoff May Be Initial Skirmish in Broader Economic War,” and answer the following questions:

1. Why is the Trump administration trying to limit China’s economic influence in the United States and abroad?

2. How is the administration trying to restrain China’s ambitions and methods of influence? Why is this a “tricky task,” according to the article?

3. David Lampton, a China scholar at Stanford University, says the present trade war is a “skirmish in an ongoing battle.” What does he mean by that statement?