Trump's Trade War Is Getting Serious — Here's Why It Started, What It Means For The Us Economy, And How It Could Hit You

Evan Vucci/AP Photo; Steffi Loos/Getty; Lintao Zhang/Getty; Jochen Zick/Getty; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider President Donald Trump has been on a nearly six-month long tariff spree, kicking off trade wars with several countries. Trump has placed tariffs on everything from steel to chicken incubators. Trading partners including China, Canada, the European Union, and Mexico have hit the US with retaliatory tariffs. Here's a breakdown of how we got here and what the tariffs mean for the economy. President Donald Trump declared on March 2 via Twitter: "When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win." The tweet marked the announcement that the US would impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports coming into the country — and the start of a growing trade war. Since that point, Trump has opened up trade battles on a series of fronts, and the US and other countries around the world have slapped tariffs on $85 billion worth of goods. Trump has long been a fan of tough action on trade.