Geopolitics risk-off · 6–18 months
A what‑if from the future

What if the US slapped a blanket 60% tariff on Chinese imports?

Blanket 60% China tariffs are a broad risk-off margin shock: tech supply chains are the most exposed, so the Nasdaq and semis lead, Alibaba and the yuan absorb the China-side hit, and the move is index-wide rather than a single channel. The live template is the Apr-2025 'Liberation Day' tariff cascade and the 2018-19 tranche war, both of which gapped semis and pressured CNY toward/through 7. Transmission: China retaliates via rare-earths and CNY depreciation to offset tariffs, exporting disinflation — so the second leg is FX, not just equity beta.

28%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — the market's odds
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Anchored to measured history 28% · 90% range 14–42% · 40 dated precedents behind it — a wider range means thinner evidence

Every number ships with its receipt — the odds, the range, the precedents, and a public grade at Reality Check. The statistical machinery that produces it is proprietary.

The butterfly cascade

How this trigger trickles across markets, left → right — the root shock, its first‑order moves, then the ripple effects. Drag any node; tap a market for its real price history.

Resolution timeline — how this probability is moving

Our model's odds (electric blue) over time vs the market's (Polymarket, amber), from the past toward the 6–18 months horizon. Each dot is a real macro event that nudged the probability — green pushed it up, red pushed it down. Tap a dot for the source. Loading the probability audit trail…

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What it would mean

If this plays out, it is a risk-off shock. The US imposes blanket 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Trade tension ▲ — which propagate through our causal graph to the markets below.

Methodology. Probability and impact are anchored to history and scored against what actually happens — wins and losses, in public, at Reality Check. Market odds live from Polymarket & Kalshi. By Vikas Singh, Quantitative Strategist. Updated 2026-08-13.