(Adnkronos) – Despite struggling financial markets, threats of retaliation and some of his biggest supporters urging him to back down from his economic policy, US President Donald Trump has not relented. Today, the avalanche of new “reciprocal” tariffs that his administration has imposed on dozens of US allies and adversaries has come into effect, with the aim, as he himself claims, of restoring fairness and reviving the US manufacturing sector. Goods from China, by far the main target, are now subject to tariffs of at least 104%. Trump imposed even higher tariffs than initially announced, after Beijing yesterday did not back down from its promise to impose retaliatory tariffs of 34%.
The “reciprocal” tariffs were calculated by dividing a country’s trade surplus with the United States by its exports to the same country and multiplying by 1/2. They range from 11% to a whopping 50%. Excluding Mexico and Canada, other major US trading partners were largely spared in this round. The EU was hit with a 20% reciprocal tariff, China with 34%, Japan with 24%, Vietnam with 46% and South Korea with 25%. These new tariffs come just days after Trump imposed a universal 10% tariff on imports from all countries except Mexico and Canada. (The 10% rate is not cumulative for countries included in the reciprocal tariff list. For example, Japan’s rate increased by 14% today, as the 10% had already been applied at the weekend).
“Our country and its taxpayers have been robbed for over 50 years. But it won’t happen again,” Trump said last week as he announced the highest tariffs the nation has seen in over a century. Hours before the tariff went into effect, Trump had made similar comments, adding that other countries, particularly China, “have frankly taken us for dead.” Now, Americans and citizens around the world are set to grapple with widespread price increases. It will be importers, not the countries targeted by Trump, who will pay the tariffs, and these costs are often passed on to wholesalers, retailers and, ultimately, consumers. But companies abroad will not be exempt from this burden either, with Americans likely to stock up on goods from countries with lower tariffs.
Ultimately, Trump’s tariffs threaten to escalate a global trade war. China, already poised to step up its retaliation against the United States, has vowed to double down further. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said yesterday that the country will “fight to the end” in the trade war. Meanwhile, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that “China also very much wants to make a deal, but doesn’t know how to start.”
