I intend to keep up with the trade policy changes implemented by the new US administration, but I don’t want to rebroadcast every new social media post from Donald Trump, so for the most part I plan only to write about confirmed official measures. Still, I do think some of the new details that have emerged this week, and how international media are responding, are worth noting.
The Singapore Straits Times reports that Trump intends to impose 25% duties on all imports from Canada and Mexico as well as a 10% tariff on imports from China to the United States beginning February 1. The president accuses China of sending fentanyl to Canada and Mexico from where it is then smuggled into the United States, along with illegal immigrants. He has also accused China of failing to live up to promises to import American agricultural products made during his first term in office.
While mostly taking a conciliatory tone and expressing willingness to address American concerns, all three countries have also vowed to retaliate against any new US tariffs.
The French newspaper Le Monde quotes Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum saying, “It’s important to always keep a cool head and refer to signed agreements,” referring to the USMCA trade pact concluded during Trump’s first administration which is scheduled for review next year.
Germany’s Die Zeit covers (in German) new threats to levy duties on goods from the European Union, which until now has been a less frequent target of Trump’s pro-tariff rhetoric.
It appears significant that Trump has tied most of the tariff threats to issues such as drugs and immigration that are not directly related to trade. This suggests that there is room for negotiation on these issues that could, one hopes, still avert any severe disruptions to the global economy. In the EU case, however, he mentioned the trade deficit and accused Europe of being “very, very bad to us” by refusing to buy American cars and farm products.
The EU tariff threat is bad news for, among others, American whiskey distillers. As part of a trade dispute during Trump’s first term, the European Union levied duties on US whiskey initially set at 25% and later scheduled to rise to 50%. The measure was suspended with the easing of trade tensions under the Biden administration, but the suspension is due to expire on March 31.