Source: POLTICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 8/2/18

The Trump administration upped the ante of a damaging trade war by announcing that it's weighing whether to hit $200 billion worth of already-targeted Chinese goods with a 25 percent tariff -- a much larger hit than the 10 percent initially proposed. While no final decision has been made, the move marks the latest action in the ongoing tit-for-tat trade war with China, which has already jeopardized U.S. farm sales to one of their biggest markets.

The move could result in China opting to hit U.S. farmers and consumers with even harder tariffs. Beijing in the past has threatened that it will continue to match Trump's actions, through one means or another.

The rationale: The administration is reportedly frustrated that the efforts to bring China to heel have not worked. To date, Trump has slapped a 25 percent duty on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods and laid the groundwork to do the same in the coming weeks on another $16 billion worth of goods. But China has withstood the shocks, and some speculate that the threat to ratchet up the tariff rate is intended to counteract the devaluation in China's currency, Pro Trade's Doug Palmer reported.

For their part, senior administration officials dismissed suggestions that the threatened move is driven by currency devaluation. "China has engaged in a whole range of things that make clear that they're not interested in dealing with the issues that we've raised," one official told reporters. "And so I would hesitate to attribute it to any one specific action."

What China could do to U.S.: China has responded to the already-imposed tariffs by imposing its own 25 percent duty on $34 billion worth of U.S. goods, including soybeans and a multitude of other American farm products. Any escalation of retaliation worries business and farmer representatives alike.

"With 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese products, there is no doubt China would again do the same to America's exporters -- increasing trade barriers to markets that are essential to our success as agricultural producers, providers and economic drivers," said Casey Guernsey, spokesman for Americans For Farmers & Families, a group opposed to Trump's trade policies. Guernsey added that the Trump administration should focus on "breaking down barriers to trade, not building them up" with China.