US President Donald Trump is considering the possibility of excluding tariffs to various sectors scheduled for April 2 and maintaining reciprocal “rates against allied and rival countries, a House official told AFP on Monday. Blanca.
By that day, Washington had announced levies to Mexico and Canada, partially postponed twice, and to specific sectors such as the automotive, pharmaceutical and semiconductor sectors.
Tariffs for specific sectors “could or could not be implemented on April 2 ”, a White House official told AFP. The situation “is still unstable ”, he added at a time of great nervousness between companies and investors.
It is unknown what will happen to the taxes planned for Canada and Mexico, countries that Trump accuses of not fighting hard the illegal trafficking of fentanyl, an opioid that causes tens of thousands of deaths a year from overdoses in the United States.
The official stated, however, that they will apply the reciprocal “tariffs ”, which consist of matching dollar by dollar the rates imposed on US goods abroad.
Trump considers “unfair ” many of the rates and denounces that they fleece the US economy for breaking free trade rules. For him, April 2 will be “Liberation Day ” for the world’s largest economy.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business that Washington will communicate to its partners the scale of non-tariff barriers and customs tariffs.
Non-tariff barriers may include regulations that actually close a market to products from another country produced with different standards, as well as other practices such as subsidies that artificially reduce the cost of production.
According to Bessent, if countries end this type of practice they could avoid the “tariff wall ”.
In the same interview, he announced that tariffs will tax 15% of countries with trade imbalances with the United States, which he called “the 15 dirty ”.
Trump evaluates excluding various sectors from tariffs on April 2