CLIMBDOWN
In a spectacular climbdown Wednesday, Trump paused for 90 days tariffs of 20 per cent on the EU and even higher levies on other trade partners, including 24 per cent on Japan.
But levies on China, which has retaliated with tariffs on US goods, were not only maintained but hiked further.
The White House on Thursday clarified that tariffs on Chinese imports are now at a staggering total of 145 per cent.
This was because the latest hike came on top of a 20 per cent tariff already imposed. China has retaliated with levies of 84 per cent on US imports.
RELIEF
Trump says he wants to use tariffs to reorder the world economy by forcing manufacturers to base themselves in the United States and for other countries to decrease barriers to US goods.
Howard Lutnick, his commerce secretary, posted on social media on Thursday that “the Golden Age is coming. We are committed to protecting our interests, engaging in global negotiations and exploding our economy.”
The EU welcomed the US president’s partial row-back and the 27-nation grouping responded with its own olive branch.
It suspended for 90 days tariffs on €20 billion (US$22.4 billion) worth of US goods that had been greenlit in retaliation to duties on steel and aluminum.
But the bloc’s chief Ursula von der Leyen told the Financial Times that there remained a “wide range of countermeasures” at the bloc’s disposal if negotiations fall short.
“An example is you could put a levy on the advertising revenues of digital services” applying across the bloc, she said.
This raised the possibility of the use of a new trade weapon called the anti-coercion instrument, according to the FT.
Source: CNA
