US President Donald Trump ignited a potentially ruinous trade war Wednesday as he slapped sweeping 10 percent tariffs on imports from around the world and harsh additional levies on key trading partners.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden against a backdrop of US flags, Trump unveiled particularly stinging tariffs on China and the European Union on what he called "Liberation Day."
Trump's tariffs triggered immediate anger, with US ally Australia blasting them as "unwarranted" and Italy calling them "wrong," while other countries have already vowed retaliation.
"For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike," Trump said.
Italy's Giorgia Meloni and Australia's Anthony Albanese are among the world leaders who have come out in criticism of US President Donald Trump, after he announced far-reaching import taxes on products from across the globe.
Meloni called a 20% tariff rate imposed on the European Union "wrong", while Albanese said a 10% import tax on Australia's goods was "unjustified."
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Russia is not included in the list of the 185 countries, subject to US customs duties under the principle of reciprocity.
ReplyDeleteThe list of nations, whom Washington suspects of using protectionist measures against US goods, was sent to journalists by the White House in connection with US President Donald Trump’s speech.
The document mentions a number of former Soviet republics. For example, the US will charge 27% duty on goods from Kazakhstan, which earlier introduced a 54% tariff on US goods, and 31% - from Moldova (61%). Goods from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will be subjected to 10% tariff.
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said Russia was not included into the list, because US sanctions have de-facto stopped bilateral trade.
The introduction of new customs tariffs will allow the United States to quickly repay its state debt, US President Donald Trump said.
ReplyDelete"Now it's our turn to prosper, and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt, and it will all happen very quickly," Trump said.
In his words, the measures will "supercharge our domestic industrial base."
The US state debt currently exceeds $36.2 trillion. According to Congressional Budget Office’s estimates, it may exceed $50 trillion in 2034.
A commentary piece in China's state-run news agency Xinhua said Washington's "rampage" amounted to "self-defeating bullying" and an "oversimplistic tit-for-tat game".
ReplyDeleteTrump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called "nations that treat us badly," including 34 percent on goods from superpower rival China, 20 percent the European Union and 24 percent on Japan.
ReplyDeleteUS President Donald Trump did not impose trade tariffs on goods from Russia, Belarus, Cuba, and the DPRK, since these countries are already under US sanctions, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Axios portal.
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