Baseline tariff set at 10% on all trade unless a ‘exceptional’ offer is presented: Trump
President Donald Trump stated that he would “always” impose a minimum 10 per cent tariff on trading partners — before promptly noting that “there could be an exception,” highlighting the challenges in understanding the US strategy regarding numerous trade agreements currently under negotiation. “You are going to always have a baseline,” Trump stated at the White House on Friday. “I mean, there could be an exception.” At some juncture, we will observe an individual undertaking something remarkable on our behalf. It is invariably feasible. However, fundamentally, there exists a baseline of at least 10 percent, with certain instances exceeding this figure significantly.
In light of a framework agreement revealed with the UK on Thursday, which upholds a 10 per cent tariff on British goods, administration officials have emphasized the necessity for Trump to retain at least 10 per cent levies on all imported goods. This strategy aims to tackle deficit issues and stimulate domestic manufacturing. “The President is determined to continue with that 10 per cent baseline tariff,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated earlier Friday. “I just spoke to him about it.”
However, as Trump expressed a heightened readiness to engage in negotiations during his later public statements, trading partners assessing the approach to negotiations with the US were once more presented with ambiguous signals. Trump was also queried regarding the weekend negotiations with China, where officials will seek a route to reduce the punitive tariffs that both nations have enacted against each other. Earlier Friday, Trump took to social media to suggest that a reduction in tariffs from 145 per cent to 80 per cent might be warranted.
In remarks to the media, Trump indicated that he had established a minimum tariff level for Chinese imports that he would not consider reducing, yet refrained from disclosing whether this threshold was set at 80 percent or below. “We’ll see how that all works out,” Trump remarked.
