What happened
President Donald Trump Thursday ordered the Commerce Department and U.S. trade representative to assess all foreign trading partners to determine “reciprocal tariffs” he would impose on countries deemed to be treating the U.S. unfairly. The review would look at tariffs other countries levy on U.S. exports plus other criteria like regulations, taxes and exchange rates.
Who said what
For the “purpose of fairness,” Trump told reporters, “I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less.” The tariffs would seek to address the wide U.S. trade deficits, a “longstanding trade irritant for the president and his economic team,” The Wall Street Journal said.
They could also “ignite a global trade war and add to America’s rebounding inflation problem,” CNN said. “Reciprocity may sound appealing, but remember who pays tariffs: It’s the American importer, and the burden eventually falls on the consumer,” said Erica York of the Tax Foundation to The Washington Post. “It’s like shooting yourselves in the foot because someone else is shooting themselves in the foot.”
What next?
The studies were expected to be finished by April 1. Trump’s “ambitious” individualized global tariffs “could shatter the rules of global trading,” The New York Times said. “Policymakers from both parties,” the Post said, have credited the “decades-long U.S. promotion of low tariffs on most items” with “giving American consumers access to inexpensive goods from all over the world.” Critics say they hurt U.S. manufacturing.