A recent poll shows most Americans think it's important to stand up to the Chinese on trade policy. But critics say a trade war will only drive up prices with no long term benefit.
Rice political science Professor Rick Stoll isn't sure President Trump is doing the right thing.
"For a lot of people, they're gonna end up paying a lot more money for things so if we look at it in the large picture the net effect may be to actually hurt the American public."
In a Harvard poll 70% of swing voters said confronting China is necessary. Even half of democrats support the President on this topic. But Stoll isn't so sure a trade war is a good idea.
"And it's not clear to me, if we do this, it's gonna result, for example, in more jobs for Americans; reopening companies that closed down because of Chinese imports, etc., etc."
But eight in ten voters told Harvard pollsters we need to deal with China now rather than later. The same poll shows most respondents think the tariffs are hurting the U.S. more than China.