Washington: Donald Trump is in no mood to go slow on tariffs, whatever be its consequences globally.
The US President upped the ante against America’s trading partners, threatening 25 per cent tariffs on imported cars, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, reported AFP.
Since formally taking over as President for his second term on January 20, Trump has brought in a broad range of tariffs on some of USA’s biggest trading partners in order to counter unfair practices against his country.
He has pledged 10 per cent duties on all goods coming from China, and 25 per cent on steel and aluminum imports.
On Tuesday evening, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump told reporters that tariffs on the automobile industry will “be in the neighbourhood of 25 per cent,” with specifics to be announced around April 2.
As for threatened tariffs on pharmaceuticals and chips, Trump said, “It’ll be 25 per cent and higher, and it’ll go very substantially higher over the course of a year.”
He said that he wanted to give affected companies time to bring their operations to the United States, adding that he had been contacted by major firms which want to come back.
Trump also said that trading partners could avoid being taxed by investing in factories in the United States.
“We want to give them time to come in.. When they come into the United States and they have their plant or factory here, there is no tariff. So we want to give them a little bit of a chance,” he explained.
Japan to take ‘appropriate action’
Trump’s latest tariffs threats have been cautiously received in Asia, home to some of the main American suppliers of potentially affected industries.
Japanese government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tokyo has raised the issue with the US government regarding automobile tariffs, “taking into account the importance of Japan’s auto industry.”
“Japan will first take appropriate action while carefully examining the specific details of the measures,” Hayashi said.
Taiwan, a global powerhouse in semiconductor production which has been accused by Trump of stealing the US chip industry, spoke about a wait and watch policy.
“The scope of products subject to tariffs has not yet been clarified. We will continue to monitor the direction of US policies and assist Taiwan’s industries,” Taipei’s economic ministry said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Malaysia’s semiconductor industry, which accounts for around 13 per cent of global back-end manufacturing, told AFP that the US would be “slapping themselves” with the new tariffs.
“If we (Malaysia) ship these products back to the US, it will only increase the cost of components back to the US,” Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association president Datuk Seri Wong Siew Hai said.
