Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump further escalated a trade war on Wednesday (April 2) by signing executive orders for reciprocal tariffs to match duties put on U.S. goods by other countries.
During an event at the White House's Rose Garden, Trump also signed a document to close what's referred to as the 'de minimis' loophole with respect to imports from China used to ship low-value packages duty-free.
U.S. President Donald Trump showed a chart unveiling global reciprocal tariffs during an event at the White House on Wednesday (April 2).
Trump held up a board showing the new rates charged on most countries. Rates ranged from 10% to 49% on the first board and up to 50% on later boards. According to the board, U.S. will impose 10% tariffs for goods from Armenia.
With a few exceptions, based on the charts Trump read out, the tariff rate being imposed by the U.S. on most countries was around half of what those countries charged. There were some exceptions in which the U.S. charged the exact rates that those countries charged, according to the chart.
“The tariffs will be not a full reciprocal. I could have done that, yes, but it would have been tough for a lot of countries. We didn't want to do that,” Trump said.
