US announces sweeping 'reciprocal tariffs' amid widespread opposition
Global Times
By Ma Jingjing Published: Apr 03, 2025 08:50 AM
Amid widespread opposition, US President Donald Trump declared a "national emergency" and announced a sweeping "reciprocal" tariff policy on Wednesday, setting a baseline tariff of 10 percent on all imported goods, with higher tariffs on many countries, as reported by US media. Multiple countries, including Canada and the EU, expressed strong opposition even before the announcement of the sweeping tariffs.
"President Trump will impose a 10 percent tariff on all countries. This will take effect on April 5, 2025," stated a release on the White House website, citing the need to "address the national emergency posed by the large and persistent trade deficit, driven by the absence of reciprocity in our trade relationships and other harmful policies like currency manipulation and exorbitant value-added taxes (VAT) perpetuated by other countries."
In remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on Wednesday, the US president displayed a comprehensive chart outlining the reciprocal tariffs he is imposing on various countries, as reported by CNBC. The plan imposes steep tariff rates on many countries, including 49 percent on Cambodia, 46 percent on Vietnam, 34 percent on China, 24 percent tariff on Japan, 20 percent on the EU, it reported, noting that a total of more than 180 countries and regions will face tariffs.
The Trump administration announced Wednesday that Canada and Mexico will be exempt from the baseline 10 percent tariff rate, as well as reciprocal levies for specific countries for now, according to the White House release. The 10 percent tariff would only kick in when the original 25 percent duties Trump slapped on Canadian and Mexican imports are terminated or suspended, it said.
However, the US administration said on Wednesday that the 25 percent tariff on all foreign-made cars and trucks will take effect as scheduled on Thursday and that duties on automotive parts imports will be launched on May 3, Reuters reported.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking from Parliament Hill on Wednesday, says Canada will act with "purpose and with force" to counter new US tariffs, according to Canada's CBC News.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the first EU government leader to respond to Trump's tariff measures, calling them "wrong and not in the interest of either party," US media outlet Politico reported. "We will do everything we can to work on an agreement with the US with the aim of averting a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players," Meloni, who has until now enjoyed friendly relations with Trump, said in a Facebook post.
Europe has "a strong plan" for retaliating against the United States in response to Donald Trump's tariff increases "if necessary," Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union's executive, said in a speech on Tuesday, CNN reported.
"The so-called 'reciprocal' tariffs are obviously trade protectionism. The US' move of imposing higher tariffs on other countries with which the US has the largest trade deficits is unreasonable and is, in fact, bullying," Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Thursday.
The US' "reciprocal" tariff is "anything but reciprocal," Radhika Desai, a professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba in Canada, told the Global Times.
While the US aims for "restoring fairness in US trade relationships and countering non-reciprocal trading arrangements" with the "reciprocal" tariffs, Trump has asked his officials to develop a plan under which the US considers itself free to impose whatever level of tariffs it wishes on all sorts of grounds, most of which would be considered specious under international trade law: "currency manipulation," the imposition of certain indirect taxes such as value-added tax, or any security-related issue, Desai said.
"While the US administration imagines it will punish the US' trade partners, the harm will be concentrated at home: they will cause inflation, they will hurt the US economy and its most powerful corporations, and, above all, they will further undermine the position of the US as an international actor, as a reliable trading partner, and as a state actor that can be trusted, pure and simple," Desai said.
Today, the US accounts for 15.9 percent of world imports, she said, stressing that "most countries can survive losing the US as a major or substantial trading partner."
A day ahead of the US' announcement of "reciprocal" tariffs, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum made a phone call on Tuesday, emphasizing the importance of building upon the strong trading and investment relationship between the two countries, according to the Canadian government website.
Michele Geraci, former Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, said that tariffs would do little to address US economic issues. "The US government aims to solve its trade deficits by imposing tariffs against its trade partners including the EU, Canada, and China, but tariffs will not help solve the US trade deficit," Geraci told the Global Times in a recent interview.
"Over time, the US will understand that its policies actually hurt the US economy instead of the economies of other countries," Geraci added.
On Sunday, US investment bank Goldman Sachs raised the probability of a US recession to 35 percent from 20 percent previously, according to a note released by the bank.
As part of Wednesday's tariff announcement, the US president also signed an Executive Order eliminating tariff exemptions for low-value shipments from China, known as "de minimis," according to a separate White House release.
"The US' move harms the interests of low-income groups in the US," Zhou said. It's a common practice internationally to exempt tariffs for low-priced goods, which helps reduce customs costs and provide effective support for reducing social unfairness, he said, noting that the US' protectionist move will set barriers for cross-border trade and accordingly harm the development of the industry.
"People all over the world realize that US tariffs will hurt the US economy but they're not going to significantly impact the Chinese economy," Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University, told the Global Times in a recent interview, adding that companies want to be part of the Chinese market and the Chinese supply chain.
China has repeatedly stressed its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the US' additional tariffs on imports from China. China's Commerce Ministry said on March 4 that the country will take countermeasures to firmly safeguard its own rights and interests.
Following the imposition of 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports on February 4, the US added another 10 percent tariff on China, effective March 4. In a strong response, China has announced a series of countermeasures, including imposing additional tariffs of 10-15 percent on US agricultural products starting from March 10.
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