United States President Donald Trump has signed a plan rolling out increased import duties for every trading partner that taxes US imports, stating that he was doing so to bring a sense of “fairness” to commerce.
Sitting in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump described the tariffs as reciprocal, meaning that the US would automatically raise its own import taxes to match existing levels in other countries.
“On trade I have decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less,” he said.
“In almost all cases, they’re charging us vastly more than we charge them,” he added. “But those days are over.”
While experts have raised concerns that Trump’s tariffs could set off a global trade war that would cause surging prices, Trump has long viewed trade as a matter of winners and losers — and he has argued that the US has been “very unfairly” treated by its allies abroad.
His heavy reliance on tariffs has also been seen as a departure from the longstanding bipartisan consensus on expanding free trade agreements with other countries.
Thursday’s tariffs are not expected to start immediately because it would require different tax hikes be set according to rates in different countries, a process that could take weeks.
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