US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would be \u201cvery kind\u201d to trading partners when he unveils further tariffs this week, risking global turmoil to address what he says are unfair trade imbalances.<\/p>\n
Trump \u2014 who has been making unprecedented use of presidential powers since taking office in January \u2014 said he could announce as early as Tuesday night exactly what \u201creciprocal tariffs\u201d will be imposed.<\/p>\n
The Republican billionaire insists that reciprocal action is needed because the world\u2019s biggest economy has been \u201cripped off by every country in the world\u201d, and is promising \u201cLiberation Day\u201d for the United States.<\/p>\n
But he told reporters Monday: \u201cWe\u2019re going to be very nice, relatively speaking, we\u2019re going to be very kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics warn that the strategy risks a global trade war, provoking a chain reaction of retaliation by major trading partners like China, Canada and the European Union.<\/p>\n
Already, China, South Korea and Japan have agreed to strengthen free trade between themselves.<\/p>\n
But Trump said he was not worried that his action would push allies toward Beijing, adding that a deal on TikTok could also be tied to China tariffs.<\/p>\n
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the goal on Wednesday would be to announce \u201ccountry-based tariffs\u201d, although Trump remains committed to imposing separate, sector-specific charges.<\/p>\n
The uncertainty has jolted markets with key European and Asian indexes closing lower, although the Dow and broad-based S&P 500 eked out gains.<\/p>\n
Market nervousness intensified after Trump said Sunday his tariffs would include \u201call countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wall Street Journal reported that advisers have considered imposing global tariffs of up to 20 per cent, to hit almost all US trading partners. Trump has remained vague, saying his tariffs would be \u201cfar more generous\u201d than ones already levied against US products.<\/p>\n
\u2018Economic pain\u2019
\nTrump\u2019s fixation on tariffs is fanning US recession fears. Goldman Sachs analysts raised their 12-month recession probability from 20pc to 35pc.<\/p>\n
This reflects a \u201clower growth forecast, falling confidence, and statements from White House officials indicating willingness to tolerate economic pain\u201d. Goldman Sachs also lifted its forecast for underlying inflation at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
China and Canada have imposed counter-tariffs on US goods, while the EU unveiled its own measures to start mid-April. Vietnam said it cut import duties on a range of goods including cars, liquefied gas and some agricultural products.<\/p>\n
Japan has said it will set up around 1,000 \u201cconsultation centres\u201d for businesses hit by US tariffs.<\/p>\n
For now, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said at a Reuters event Monday that Trump\u2019s tariffs are causing anxiety, although their global economic impact should not be dramatic.<\/p>\n
Ryan Sweet of Oxford Economics said to \u201cexpect the unexpected\u201d, anticipating that Trump would \u201ctake aim at some of the largest offenders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides reciprocal country tariffs, Trump could unveil additional sector-specific levies on the likes of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. He earlier announced auto tariffs to take effect Thursday.<\/p>\n
Economists have expected the upcoming salvo could target the 15pc of partners that have persistent trade imbalances with the United States, a group that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dubbed a \u201cDirty 15\u201d.<\/p>\n
The United States has some of its biggest goods deficits with China, the EU, Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Canada and India.<\/p>\n
\u2018Existential moment\u2019
\nUS trade partners are rushing to minimise their exposure, with reports suggesting India might lower some duties.<\/p>\n
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Monday that Europe should move towards economic independence, telling France Inter radio that Europe faces an \u201cexistential moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Separately, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Trump on \u201cproductive negotiations\u201d towards a UK-US trade deal, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the EU would respond firmly to Trump but is open to compromise.<\/p>\n
It is \u201centirely possible\u201d for fresh tariffs to be swiftly reduced or put on hold, said Greta Peisch, a former official at the US Trade Representative\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
In February, Washington paused steep levies on Mexican and Canadian imports for a month as the North American neighbors pursued negotiations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would be \u201cvery kind\u201d to trading partners when he unveils further tariffs this week, risking global turmoil to address what he says are unfair trade imbalances. Trump \u2014 who has been making unprecedented use of presidential powers since taking office in January \u2014 said he could announce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7694,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7692\/revisions\/7694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}