NYT: Tariff impact colors a key House race in Boeing country

President Trump likes to keep negotiating partners on their toes. But workers like Charles Cesmat have been just as unnerved by the president’s recent moves on trade.

Mr. Cesmat is a parts manager at a Boeing plant in Renton, Wash., just south of Seattle. One of every four planes Boeing assembles is sent to China. Each time Mr. Trump attacks Beijing on Twitter, or announces a new set of tariffs, Mr. Cesmat winces.

“I’m concerned a potential trade war could affect work for our members and work for me,” Mr. Cesmat said. “Thousands of people’s jobs rely on a working relationship with China.”

Nowhere is that truer than in Washington, which sent $18 billion in goods to China last year, more than any other state. A congressional race here has become a crucial test of whether Mr. Trump’s upending of the norms of international trade will come at the expense of Republican candidates.