President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the United States will implement 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports this week. This is the most recent in a series of trade levies he has proposed.
The tariffs, which Trump will announce on Monday, will apply to “any steel coming into the United States,” he told reporters on Air Force One, adding that aluminum will also be impacted.
During his presidency from 2017 to 2021, Trump enforced comparable tariffs to safeguard American companies that he felt were unfairly competing with those in Europe and Asia.According to US trade data, Canada is the biggest supplier of steel and aluminum imports to the US, a country that Trump has already threatened with tariffs. South Korea, Mexico, and Brazil are all important suppliers of steel to the nation.
The Republican billionaire added on Sunday that he would impose “reciprocal tariffs” to bring his government’s taxes up to par with those imposed by foreign nations on US goods.
Trump stated that “every nation will be reciprocal” and that he will unveil the tariffs in detail on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Soon after taking office, the president imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, three important trading partners, demonstrating his preference for using the US financial might as a weapon.After both Canada and Mexico pledged to increase their efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants into the United States, he temporarily suspended 25 percent levies against them for a month.
However, the tariffs against China have continued, and beginning Tuesday, extra 10 percent taxes have been applied to goods entering the US.
In response, Beijing imposed targeted duties that would take effect on Monday on a number of US goods, including coal and liquefied natural gas.
Goldman Sachs estimates that the Trump-announced tariffs cover $525 billion worth of Chinese goods, while the new Chinese duties cover $14 billion worth of US goods.
In addition, Trump has promised to impose taxes on the European Union and to shortly announce “reciprocal tariffs” that are not yet specific.
In an interview that was broadcast on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to confront Trump about his financial threats to Europe, but he stated that the United States should concentrate its efforts on China instead of the European Union.
Additionally, Macron cautioned on CNN that any tariffs imposed on Europe will have an impact on Americans, stating that they “will increase the costs and create inflation in the US.”
Trump also cautioned Tokyo that if it doesn’t reduce the US trade deficit with Japan to zero, it may still be subject to taxes on exported goods during an otherwise cordial meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday.The greatest economy in the world, the United States, had its trade imbalance increase to about $920 billion last year.
Although the majority of experts disagree, Trump, who has pledged a “new golden age” for the US, has maintained that any tariffs will be paid for by foreign exporters rather than by US consumers.
However, he acknowledged that Americans would experience economic “pain” after declaring tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico earlier this month.
Most recently, when Colombia turned back US military planes transporting deported migrants, Trump threatened to impose tariffs as a means of achieving his broader policy objectives.
Following a whole day of confrontation with Trump, the Colombian administration gave in.
