President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a new round of reciprocal tariffs on U.S. competitors and allies alike, mirroring the higher rates that other countries impose on American exports.
The tariffs will not take effect immediately—a deliberate move to give countries time to negotiate new trade terms with the United States, a White House official told CNN. Trump has directed his administration officials to “quickly” submit a report detailing the tariffs, which will be tailored to each trading partner.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s strategic competitors, like communist China, or allies like [the] European Union or Japan or Korea,” a Trump official said. “Every one of those countries is taking advantage of us in different ways, and the president characterizes this as a lack of reciprocal trade.”
The reciprocal tariffs mark Trump’s latest effort to counter foreign “unfair trade practices” and generate revenue to fund promised tax cuts. Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has levied 10 percent additional tariffs on Chinese goods and 25 percent tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports. “Very simply, it’s if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said Sunday.
Trump has pledged to take the U.S. economy back to its “golden age” while using tariffs to pressure Mexico and Canada to curb drug trafficking and illegal immigration. The president earlier this month paused his 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada for 30 days after the two countries agreed to deploy troops and personnel to secure their borders with the United States.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that other countries have been “ripping off” the United States, calling Trump’s tariffs “a great policy that will benefit American workers and improve our national security.”
