US President Donald Trump today announced sweeping “reciprocal tariffs” hitting both allies and competitors, in a dramatic escalation of an international trade war that economists warn could fuel inflation at home.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said he decided to impose reciprocal duties, telling reporters that US allies were often “worse than our enemies” on trade issues.
The levies would be tailored to each US trading partner and consider factors including value added tax (VAT).
Trump has announced a broad range of tariffs targeting some of the biggest US trading partners since taking office, arguing that they would help tackle unfair practices — and in some cases using the threats to influence policy.
The president has referred to tariffs as a way to raise revenue, remedy trade imbalances and pressure countries to act on US concerns.
Trump’s announcement came hours before he was due to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington. It remains unclear when exactly the tariffs would take effect, if imposed.
Analysts have warned that reciprocal duties could bring a broad tariff hike to emerging market economies such as India and Thailand, which tend to have higher effective tariff rates on US products.
Countries such as South Korea that have trade deals with Washington are less at risk from this move, analysts believe.
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