Western publications are commenting this morning on the tariffs that US President Donald Trump is imposing on goods imported from China, the EU and other countries around the world, BTA writes.
The American newspaper "Washington Post" writes that representatives of the Republican Party are urging the Trump administration to conclude agreements to withdraw the tariffs and are asking the White House for more details on the strategy.
"I don't fully understand the plan", said Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. "And I'm not sure anyone else does", he added.
North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis also said he was "skeptical" to the Trump administration's approach.
According to the "New York Times" "the most characteristic feature of tariff policy is recklessness, because you take action first and think about the consequences later."
According to the publication, administration officials knew that markets would collapse and other countries would take retaliatory measures.
"Donald Trump has started a global economic war without any allies," economist John Lipsky told the "New York Times". "That's why - unlike previous economic crises this century - there is no one to come to the rescue of the global economy if the situation starts to deteriorate," he added.
"Trade Wars, Episode 5: The Empire Sabotages Itself. As global financial markets failed to appreciate his genius, President Donald Trump explained it all away by saying that "sometimes you have to take medicine," writes Marina Hyde, a journalist for the British newspaper The Guardian.
According to her, the situation is reminiscent of the moment during the COVID pandemic, "when Trump suggested that disinfectant could be injected into the lungs?"
"I suppose it was just science, just like this tariff plan is just economics," she adds.
V. "Guardian" also commented on the disagreements between Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.
The publication writes that Musk's failure to get Trump to listen to him is evidence for some observers of the growing rift between the US president and the world's richest man, who is leading the White House's efforts to limit federal spending as head of the Office of Government Efficiency.
Another British newspaper, "The Telegraph", also commented that Musk, who is a key adviser in the White House, has shown that he opposes Trump's trade policy by saying that he hopes for a trade agreement between the US and the EU.
"In the medium and long term, countries will start to trade around the United States," says Fareed Zakaria from the American television channel CNN, predicting that Trump's customs walls will isolate the US. He adds that, nevertheless, countries are more likely to negotiate with Trump to maintain their access to the American market, and this gives Trump exceptional opportunities for influence. According to the "Telegraph", however, "if there is a country that will be left isolated, it will be China". The newspaper comments that in any case, tariffs of this scale would cause an almost complete separation of the Chinese and American economies.
The British publication also draws attention to the dissatisfaction among supporters of the Republican Party with regard to Trump's trade policy. It gives the example of the American billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who recently stated that "he did not vote for it".
"Perhaps Ackman slept through the long months of the campaign leading up to the presidential election in November, as Trump could not have been clearer about his intentions. And indeed, tens of millions of Americans voted for exactly what he is doing now," notes the "Telegraph".
The European edition of the magazine "Politico" reports on an internal document to which the magazine has access, according to which the European Commission is considering imposing tariffs of up to 25% on a wide range of US exports worth about 22.1 billion euros.
"Politico" explains that the list includes agricultural and industrial goods such as soybeans, meat, tobacco, iron, steel and aluminum, with the aim of hitting the US sectors that rely most on transatlantic exports.
Overall, the EU tariffs would hit up to $13.5 billion worth of exports from Republican-leaning states, according to a Politico analysis of trade data for 2024. Specifically, the magazine said, the EU is also targeting goods such as beef from Kansas and Nebraska, poultry from Louisiana, auto parts from Michigan and cigarettes from Florida. Although the commission ultimately excluded whiskey from the final draft after successful lobbying by France, Italy and Ireland, it included other goods designed to hit exporters from Republican states, the publication added.