BANGKOK (news agencies) — The sweeping new tariffs announced Wednesday by U.S. President Donald Trump were met initially with measured reactions from key trading partners, highlighting the lack of appetite for a full-fledged trade war.
Trump presented the import taxes, which he calls “reciprocal tariffs” and range from 10% to 49%, in the simplest terms: the U.S. would do to its trading partners what he said they had been doing to the U.S. for decades.
“Taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years,” he said. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”
The president promised that “Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country.” He framed it not just as an economic issue, but a question of national security that threatens “our very way of life.”
Financial markets were jolted, with U.S. stock futures down by as much as 3% early Thursday and Tokyo’s market leading losses in Asia. Oil prices sank more than $2 a barrel and the price of bitcoin dropped 4.4%.
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the British government said the United States remains the U.K.’s “closest ally.”
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the U.K. hoped to strike a trade deal to “mitigate the impact” of the 10% tariffs on British goods announced by Trump.
“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal,” said Reynolds. “But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the U.K.’s national interest.”
Italy’s conservative Premier Giorgia Meloni described the new 20% tariffs against the European Union as “wrong,” saying they benefit neither side.
“We will do everything we can to work towards an agreement with the United States, with the aim of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players,” Meloni said in a Facebook post.
Brazil’s government said it was considering taking the case to the World Trade Organization. And later, in a rare display of unity, Brazil’s Congress unanimously passed a reciprocity bill to allow its government to retaliate against any country or trade bloc that imposes tariffs on Brazilian goods.
Some countries took issue with the White House’s calculations.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the U.S. tariffs imposed on his country were totally unwarranted, but Australia will not retaliate.
“President Trump referred to reciprocal tariffs. A reciprocal tariff would be zero, not 10%,” said Albanese. The U.S. and Australia have a free trade agreement and the U.S. has a $2-to-$1 trade surplus with Australia. “This is not the act of a friend.”
Trump said the United States bought $3 billion of Australian beef last year, but Australia would not accept U.S. beef imports. Albanese said the ban on raw U.S. beef was for biosecurity reasons.
The 29% tariff imposed on the tiny South Pacific outpost of Norfolk Island came as a shock. The Australian territory has a population of around 2,000 people and the economy revolves around tourism.
“To my knowledge, we do not export anything to the United States,” Norfolk Island Administrator George Plant, the Australian government’s representative on the island, told the news agencies Thursday. “We don’t charge tariffs on anything. I can’t think of any non-tariff barriers that would be in place either, so we’re scratching our heads here.”
New Zealand also took issue with Trump’s tariff logic.
“We don’t have a 20% tariff rate,” said trade minister Todd McClay, adding that New Zealand was “a very low tariff regime” and the correct figure was below the 10% baseline rate applied by the U.S. to all countries.
“We won’t be looking to retaliate. That would put up prices on New Zealand consumers and it would be inflationary,” he said.
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