Trump orders new ‘reciprocal’ tariffs matching foreign rates
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The news: President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to calculate new country-by-country tariff levels, a move that could overhaul decades of US trade policy.
Trump said he did not expect to issue exemptions or waivers.
The tariffs will be designed to match those imposed on US goods and account for non-tariff barriers such as subsidies, exchange rates and the European Union’s value-added tax, a White House official told reporters.
Speaking at a press conference at the Oval Office after Trump signed the directive, commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said tariff studies should be completed by 1 April, after which Trump could act.
The context: Countries that could be affected include Japan, the EU, India and South Korea, according to a White House official who briefed reporters before the announcement.
Trump said the plan was about fairness. “If you build your product in the United States, there are no tariffs,” he said.
The White House said the move is intended to rebalance trade relationships and that other countries would have an opportunity to negotiate
Trump told reporters he planned to impose additional tariffs on cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
He said his advisers would spend the next four weeks discussing potential measures on these industries.
What they said: “I’ve decided, for purposes of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “In almost all cases, they’re charging us vastly more than we charge them but those days are over.”
"They’ve been taking advantage of us for years and years and years. They’ve charged us and we haven’t charged them. And it’s time to be reciprocal."
The sources: Reuters , The New York Times, Bloomberg
