The US has imposed a minimum tariff rate on imported goods of 10%, US President Donald Trump announced at the White House.
“This will be done to help our economic recovery and prevent fraud in trade“, the American leader added.
This minimum rate will take effect on April 5.
“Other nations will finally be asked to pay for the privilege of accessing our market, the largest market in the world. We are now the largest market in the world,“ said Trump.
The American leader added that to the leaders of other countries who “will soon call and ask for relief from these tariffs“, he will say this: “Remove your own tariffs, remove barriers, stop manipulating currencies and start buying tens of billions of dollars of American goods“.
After his speech, he signed an executive order to introduce retaliatory tariffs on products from other countries.
The US government will impose tariffs on imports from China at a rate of 34%, and on the European Union at a rate of 20%, Trump said.
Similar measures will affect Vietnam (46%), India (26%), Indonesia (32%), Cambodia (49%), Malaysia (24%), Republic of Korea (25%), Thailand (36%), Taiwan (32%), Switzerland (31%), Japan (24%).
Washington will impose a 27% tariff on goods from Kazakhstan, which previously imposed a 54% tariff on American products, 31% on goods from Moldova (61% against the US), and 10% tariffs have been introduced on goods from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (all 10% against the US). In addition, tariffs will be imposed on goods from Afghanistan - 10%, Brazil - 10%, Great Britain - 10%, Israel - 17%, Iraq - 39%, Iran - 10%, Saudi Arabia - 10%, Syria - 41%, Turkey - 10%, South Africa - 30%.
The US government has introduced retaliatory tariffs on imports from Ukraine in the amount of 10%.
Washington has imposed import tariffs of 25% on all cars manufactured outside the country.
“None of our car companies have the right to operate in other countries, friend or foe, and in many cases, friend is worse than foe in terms of trade. Such horrific distortions have undermined our industrial base and threatened our national security. I do not blame other countries for this disaster. I blame former presidents and previous leaders who didn't do their jobs, that nobody can even believe. So, starting at midnight on April 3, we're imposing a 25% tariff on all foreign cars," the head of state said.
“Until today, the United States has had a 2.5% tariff on foreign cars for decades. Think about that 2.5% on foreign cars. The European Union imposes more than 10% tariffs on us, and they have a 20% value-added tax“, the president said. He stressed that American auto companies face serious trade restrictions in India, South Korea and Japan. At the same time, according to the American leader, foreign companies sell millions of cars in the United States without significant trade barriers.
On March 26, Trump announced that the United States would impose a 25% import tariff on all cars manufactured outside the country. The previously imposed 2.5% tariff is also set to remain in place, bringing the new tariff rate to 27.5%. The tariffs on several key components, including engines, transmissions and electrical systems, will take effect on May 3, according to Bloomberg.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said Russia was not included in the list of countries subject to new trade tariffs because US sanctions have already effectively halted bilateral trade.
"Russia is not included in the list of countries subject to tariffs because the US does not trade with it. The country remains under our sanctions," Besant explained to Fox News.
"We can't pay the deficits of Canada, Mexico and many other countries. We used to do it, but we can't anymore. We take care of countries all over the world. We pay for their militaries. We pay for everything they have to pay for," Trump added.
The US president also said that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is "the worst deal ever made". According to him, since the inception of this agreement, the US has lost about 90 thousand businesses.