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Donald Trump is considering imposing tariffs of about 25 per cent on imports of cars, drugs and chips into the US as he teased the next steps of a rapidly escalating trade war.
The US president said on Tuesday that he was weighing tariffs “in the neighbourhood” of 25 per cent on automotive imports and at least that level on pharmaceutical products and semiconductors.
“It’ll be 25 per cent and higher and it’ll go very substantially higher over the course of the year,” Trump said, referring to chips and drugs. The possibility of additional increases later in the year are designed to give companies “a little bit of a chance” to relocate operations to the US.
The president added that he would “probably” provide final details on the automotive tariffs on April 2, a date he had previously indicated they would take effect.
The comments marked the latest salvo fired by Trump as he looks to reshape America’s trading relationship with the world. They came as an EU delegation arrived in Washington in a bid to avert a further escalation.
Trump has already unveiled 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports due to take effect next month and hit China with an additional 10 per cent levy. He pushed back plans for new 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico after reaching eleventh-hour deals with the US’s North American neighbours this month.
The president also took aim at the EU on Tuesday. As trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič landed in the US capital for three days of talks, Trump repeated complaints about the scale of the trade deficit and reiterated plans to slap reciprocal tariffs on the bloc.
“The EU has been very unfair to us,” Trump said. “They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our farmed products, they don’t take almost anything, they take very little. And we’re going to have to straighten that out.”
Trump suggested the EU had already agreed to cut tariffs on US car imports, proving that the reciprocity threat was working.
European officials had previously indicated the bloc was willing to cut its 10 per cent import tax to a level near the 2.5 per cent charged by the US. But Brussels said on Tuesday that no deal had yet been reached.
“No specific offer on reducing tariffs has been made by either side. Any tariff reductions must be mutually beneficial and negotiated within a fair and rules-based framework,” the European Commission said.
The commission added: “The EU remains committed to deepening transatlantic trade relations and addressing tariff concerns through constructive dialogue.”
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