On Wednesday, April 9, US President Donald Trump’s retaliatory tariffs on more than 180 countries and the EU came into effect, including an increase of up to 104% on goods from China. Before that, on April 5, tariffs of 10% on goods from many countries came into effect.
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According to Reuters, Trump said the tariffs were a response to barriers other countries had put in place for US goods and that they were necessary to address trade imbalances with those countries.
He previously signed an executive order declaring a national emergency over the threat of a trade deficit, allowing him to make certain decisions without needing approval from Congress. According to The Verge, Trump promised that the higher tariffs would remain in place until he “determines that the threat posed by the trade deficit and the underlying non-reciprocity regime has been offset, eliminated, or mitigated.”
The EU will vote today on whether to impose its own retaliatory tariffs. As for China, which mirrored Trump’s moves last week by raising tariffs on US goods by 34%, its government has vowed to fight what it calls blackmail.
«”The U.S. continues to abuse tariffs to pressure China, and China firmly opposes this and will never accept this kind of bullying,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news conference Wednesday. The U.S. must “adopt a position of equality, respect and reciprocity,” he said, if it wants to “solve the issue through dialogue and negotiation,” NBC News quoted Jian as saying.
Also today, China’s top leaders are scheduled to meet to hammer out measures to boost the economy and stabilize capital markets. But Trump is not giving in. He has said the 104 percent tariff will remain in place until China agrees to a deal with the U.S. — apparently implying that Beijing will have to make concessions.
Trump’s tariffs have shaken the decades-old global trading order, stoked fears of a recession and sent shares of major companies tumbling. But the US president believes that everything is on track and that many countries are already willing to compromise. “We have a lot of countries coming to us that want to make deals,” he said at a White House event on Tuesday, noting that he expects China to seek an agreement as well.
Donald Trump also signaled that the tariff saga is not over. Speaking to Republican lawmakers on Tuesday, he said he would soon announce “massive” tariffs on pharmaceutical imports.