US President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled a raft of punishing tariffs targeting countries around the world, including some of its closest trading partners, in a move that risks sparking a ruinous trade war.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden against a backdrop of US flags, Trump slapped the most stinging tariffs on China and the European Union on what he called \u201cLiberation Day.\u201d
The dollar fell one percent against the euro and slipped against other major currencies as Trump was speaking.
\u201cFor decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called the \u201cnations that treat us badly,\u201d including 34 percent on goods from superpower rival China, 20 percent on key ally the European Union and 24 percent on Japan.
But the 78-year-old Republican \u2014 who held up a chart with a list of levies \u2014 said that he was \u201cvery kind\u201d and so was only imposing half the amount that those countries taxed US exports.
For the rest, Trump said he would impose a \u201cbaseline\u201d tariff of 10 percent, including Britain.
An audience of cabinet members, as well as workers in hard hats from industries including steel, oil and gas, whooped and cheered as Trump said the tariffs would \u201cmake America wealthy again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is Liberation Day,\u201d Trump said, adding that it would \u201cforever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America\u2019s destiny was reclaimed.\u201d
Sweeping auto tariffs of 25 percent that Trump announced last week are also due to take effect at 12:01 am (0401 GMT) Thursday.
Trump has telegraphed the move for weeks, insisting tariffs will keep the United States from being \u201cripped off\u201d by other countries and spur a new \u201cGolden Age\u201d of American industry.
But many experts warn the tariffs risk triggering a recession at home as costs are passed on to US consumers, and a damaging trade war abroad.
The world has been on edge ahead of Trump\u2019s announcement.
Markets have been volatile as investors hedged their bets, and the announcement came after Wall Street stocks closed.
The tariffs will also reinforce fears that Trump is backing even further away from US allies towards a new order based on a vision of American supremacy.
US trading partners have vowed swift retribution while also trying to persuade Trump to reach deals to avoid tariffs in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany warned Wednesday that trade wars hurt \u201cboth sides.\u201d
The European Union will react to new Trump tariffs \u201cbefore the end of April,\u201d said a French government spokeswoman.
The 27-nation bloc\u2019s initial salvo would counter US actions on steel and aluminum, followed by sector-by-sector measures.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who made intense, said a \u201ctrade war is in nobody\u2019s interests.\u201d
\u201cWe have prepared for all eventualities \u2014 and we will rule nothing out,\u201d he told parliament.
\u2013 Recession fears \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has had a long love affair with tariffs, insisting in the face of experts that they are a cure-all for America\u2019s trade imbalances and economic ills.
The billionaire insists the levies will bring a \u201crebirth\u201d of America\u2019s hollowed-out manufacturing capacity, and says companies can avoid tariffs by moving to the United States.
But critics say US businesses and consumers could bear the burden if importers pass on the cost, adding that the policy could increase risks of a recession.
\u201cIf this trade war continues through Labor Day (on September 1), the US economy will likely suffer a recession this year,\u201d Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody\u2019s Analytics, told AFP.
Negotiations are likely to continue, though, as countries seek to halt the tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has previously been persuaded, however, to halt tariffs on neighbors Canada and Mexico while trade talks continued.
He ordered levies on both because they had failed to stop the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States.
\u201cI understand that it\u2019s a game of tug-of-war,\u201d truck driver Alejandro Espinoza told AFP as he waited in a queue to cross the Mexican-US border.
\u201cBut unfortunately, we\u2019re the ones who pay in the end.\u201d
AFP-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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