In his inauguration speech, US President Donald Trump promised to impose tariffs on foreign countries to make American citizens richer, BTA reported.
"Immediately, I will begin to review our trade system to protect American families and workers", the 47th US president said shortly after being sworn in at the Capitol in Washington.
"Instead of taxing our citizens to line the pockets of other countries, we will impose tariffs and levy taxes on foreign countries that will make our citizens richer," he said in his inauguration speech. "To this end, we are establishing a Foreign Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. "We will have huge amounts of money coming into our coffers from abroad," Trump added.
"President Trump will announce a trade policy that puts America first," the White House said in a statement, adding that the country "will no longer depend on foreign entities for its domestic tax policy that punishes American businesses," AFP reported.
During his election campaign, Donald Trump had said he would quickly impose a 25% tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada, even though the two countries are theoretically protected by a free trade agreement signed during his first term and which he then presented as "the best possible", AFP notes. Donald Trump justified this project as a countermeasure against the entry of drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States. The president-elect also threatened Beijing with a 10% tariff hike, on top of existing taxes.
Trump said he would declare an energy emergency to boost U.S. oil and gas production and lower costs for American consumers, Reuters reported. The emergency declaration is just one of many actions Trump is expected to take today to support the U.S. oil, gas and energy industries and to halt former President Joe Biden’s efforts to accelerate electric vehicle production.
Biden entered the White House promising to wean the U.S. off fossil fuels, but U.S. oil and gas production has hit record highs under his leadership as drillers chased high prices following sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.