U.S. president Donald Trump signed on Wednesday a regulation imposing "reciprocal duties" at a rate of at least 10% on goods imported from abroad and, in the case of the European Union, 20%. Trump described them as America's “declaration of economical independence” and “the day of liberation”.
— 1 of the messages I'd like to pass on tonight is that everyone sit down comfortably, take a deep breath and don't answer right away. We'll see what comes of it, and if you answer, that's how it's going to escalate, and then it's going to become a full commercial war. “The U.S. Finance Minister Scott Bessent later said in an interview with CNN, asked about a possible retaliation for the “cross-customs” announced by president Trump on Wednesday.
Bessent admits that prices will emergence in the US
Bessent suggested that in this case the duties imposed could be increased even more. However, he could not give a concrete answer to whether president Trump could agree to lower duties by negotiating with state leaders. He stated that more further steps depend on what Trump would hear from company heads about their plans to decision production to the United States.
The head of the finance department admitted that the price of goods in the USA may increase as a consequence of customs duties, but suggested that this would be a tiny increase, due to the fact that any of the increases will be accepted by the sellers and any will be offset by the strengthening of the dollar rate.
Minister besides responded to criticism of country-specific tariffs calculated by the White Housewhich, according to Trump's words, correspond to half of the combined customs duties and another trade barriers applied by another countries to the US. Bessent argued that These figures were based powerfully on data from the U.S. Trade typical Office (USR) And if they are questioned in court, the administration will be able to defend them.
However, as USR acknowledged, duty rates do not correspond to another countries' duties, but to a proportionate volume of trade deficits with individual countries. Countries that import more from the US than they export, however, will receive a 10% minimum work (e.g. UK and Australia). As a result, the duties applied by another countries are of no relevance to the rate imposed by the USA and the only criterion is the trade balance.
