In another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul, Donald Trump said that he will “affect “everyone,” including its biggest trading partners, Canada and Mexico, on Monday. It said it will announce a new 25% tariff on imports on Monday.
The US president spoke with Air Force 1 reporters on Sunday and said on Tuesday or Wednesday he would announce that he would raise US tariffs to raise tariff rates on trading partners, making it “almost instantly” effective. He said that. “And, very simply, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said of mutual tariff plans.
The steel and aluminum moves have led to a quick response from Doug Ford, the Prime Minister of Ontario, Canada.
Monday’s tariffs could affect major US suppliers in Korea and Vietnam, in addition to existing metals operations.
During his first term, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum, but later granted tax-free quotas to several trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
Joe Biden has expanded these allocations to the UK, Japan and the European Union, with US steel factories having declined in capacity utilization in recent years. White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt said the new tariffs will come above existing steel and aluminum obligations.
Trump announced Friday that he will impose mutual tariffs on many countries this week. He did not identify a country, but the obligation is imposed “to be treated equally with other countries.”
Also, during a flight to New Orleans to watch the Super Bowl, Trump said the US may carry less debt than thought, and could be due to fraud related to debt payments. I stated.
According to the US Treasury Department, the US currently has 36.2TN public debt outstanding.
Trump is tasked with billionaire Elon Musk’s government efficiency team to eradicate fraud and wasteful spending across the federal government.
“We’re even seeing treasures,” Trump told reporters on Sunday in Air Force 1. “There could be a problem. You’re reading about it and at the Treasury, that could be an interesting issue.”
An audit conducted by the Mask efficiency team has suspended operations in several federal agencies.
Trump’s comments on Sunday regarding potential fraud related to the US Treasury Department raise the question of what the Musk team will do.
According to data from the government and the US Steel Institute, the largest sources of US steel imports are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam.
Canada is a large margin and is the largest supplier of primary aluminum metals in the US, accounting for 79% of total imports in the first 11 months of 2024. Mexico is a major supplier of aluminum scrap and aluminum alloys.
Trump has long complained about the EU’s 10% tariffs on car imports being far higher than the US car rates 2.5%. He frequently states that Europe “doesn’t take our cars” but is shipped to the Atlantic every year by millions of people.
However, the US enjoys 25% tariffs on pickup trucks, a key source of profit for Detroit automakers General Motors GM.N, Ford FN and Stellarantis’s US operations.
According to World Trade Organization data, the US trade weighted average tariff rate is around 2.2%, with 12% in India, 6.7% in Brazil, 5.1% in Vietnam and 2.7% in European Union countries.
Reuters and
