Trump unveils roadmap for reciprocal tariffs

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump unveiled a roadmap on Thursday for charging reciprocal tariffs on every country that puts duties on US imports, his latest trade salvo directed at American friends and foes that the White House says will strengthen economic and national security.

“We want a level playing field,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, discussing the measures.

The tariffs were not going into effect on Thursday but could begin to be imposed within weeks as Trump’s trade and economic team study bilateral tariff and trade relationships, a White House official told reporters on a conference call.

Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for Commerce secretary, said the administration would address each affected country one by one. He said the administration’s studies on the issue would be completed by April 1.

Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to bring down consumer prices, said prices could go up in the short term as a result of the moves. “Tariffs are great,” he said.

The White House official, who spoke to reporters before Trump’s event in the Oval Office, said the administration would examine what it called the most “egregious” issues first, including countries with the biggest trade surpluses and highest tariff rates.

Trump’s reciprocal tariffs would match the higher duty rates charged by other countries, he said. They also would aim to counteract non-tariff trade barriers such as burdensome regulations, value-added taxes, government subsidies and exchange rate policies that can erect barriers to the flow of US products to foreign markets.

The effort also aims to launch negotiations with some countries to reduce these barriers.

The announcement appeared designed at least in part to trigger talks with other countries. The official said Trump would gladly lower tariffs if other nations lowered theirs.

“So the president is more than happy to lower tariffs if countries want to lower tariffs. But let’s also recognize that tariffs, higher tariffs, are not the biggest part of the problem in many, if not most cases,” the official said.

Targets include China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union. The tariffs would avoid a “one size fits all” approach for more customized levies, he said, though he did not rule out a flat global tariff.

The official said a lack of US reciprocal tariffs had contributed to a large and persistent US trade deficit. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was scheduled to arrive at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT), oversees a government that imposes the highest tariffs on US exports of any major US trading partner. Trump acknowledged as much on Thursday.

The Republican president’s latest round of market-rattling tariffs has ratcheted up fears of a widening global trade war and threatened to accelerate US inflation.

Trump’s trade advisers were finalizing plans on Wednesday for the reciprocal tariffs the US president has vowed to impose on every country that charges duties on US imports. Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, has already announced tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports beginning on March 12, imposed 10% tariffs on goods from China, and imposed a 30-day hold on tariffs on goods from neighboring Canada and Mexico.—Reuters