TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump is vowing new round of tariffs to expand and deepen his trade war this week.
Credit：Xinhua News Agency
Trump told reporters he planned to announce levies on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States on Monday. ”We’ll also be announcing steel tariffs on Monday,” Trump said on Air Force One en route to the Super Bowl on Sunday. “Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff. “ "Aluminum, too," Trump added, when a reporter asked him whether it would also be subject to tariffs.
Trump also said he planned to announce reciprocal tariffs on a news conference on Tuesday or Wednesday. Those new tariffs, which he said will come into effect "almost immediately", seems to deliver his threat during presidential campaign last year. "If they charge us, we charge them… every country," he said on Sunday, adding: "If they are charging us 130% and we're charging them nothing, it's not going to stay that way."
Trump didn’t specify his plan of upcoming reciprocal tariffs such as the effective date or goods set to be targeted, but suggested trading partners would not be affected if he feels satisfied the current trading agreements. "It won't affect everybody, because there are some where we have similar tariffs, but the ones that are taking advantage of the United States, we're going to have a reciprocity," Trump added later.
The remarks echoed Trump’s threat on Friday after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. “I’ll be announcing that next week, reciprocal trade, so that we’re treated evenly with other countries,” Trump spoke to reporters at a press briefing with Ishiba. “We don’t want any more, any less.”
Trump has vowed in the campaign that he would seek a legislation to impose reciprocal tariffs on other countries. “Under the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act, other countries will have two choices — they’ll get rid of their tariffs on us, or they will pay us hundreds of billions of dollars, and the United States will make an absolute FORTUNE,” Trump said in a campaign video.
“If India, China, or any other country hits us with a 100 or 200 percent tariff on American-made goods, we will hit them with the same exact tariff. In other words, 100% is 100%. If they charge us we charge them — an eye for an eye, a tariff for a tariff, same exact amount,” he added.
Trump revealed almost two weeks ago he plans to impose extra tariffs on imported computer chips, semiconductor and pharmaceuticals as well as steel, aluminum and copper, as part of push to revive U.S. manufacturing.
"We have to bring production back to our country," Trump lawmakers from the Trump National Doral hotel and golf club in Miam on January 27. "You know, there was a time when we made one ship a day. And now we can't build a ship. We don't know what the hell we're doing. It's all gone to other locations and other lands."
Monday is seeing China’s tit-for-tat tariffs on some U.S. goods entering effect. China announced countermeasures on February 4, the day an extra 10% tariffs on Chinese-made goods came into effect. The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said in a statement that an additional 15% tariff will be imposed on imported coal and liquefied natural gas originating from the United States, and crude oil, agricultural machinery, automobiles with large displacement, and pickup trucks will be subject to additional tariffs of 10%.
China on February 4 also said it has filed a World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against the latest 10% US tariffs, and expanded its export controls to five more strategic minerals. Chinese market regulator the same day launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Google.
With a slew of countermeasures, China hit back at the U.S. tariffs timely and accurately, Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with China Central Television (CCTV), cited Chinese experts on February 4. Yuyuan Tantian commented noted the 10% or 15% additional tariffs on U.S. goods left enough room for China’s future slap. In the coming days, China may adjust retaliation actions depending on U.S. further move, Yuyuan Tantian quoted Cui Fan, a professor of the University of International Business and Economics.
Yuyuan Tantian in another post last week warned the WTO complaint and other moves took by the Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM) are just the beginning, indicating China is ready for more steps if the Trump administration is escalating the trade war.
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