US president says levies will restore a sense of ‘fairness’ to trade relations with other countries.
Published On 13 Feb 2025
United States President Donald Trump has signed a plan rolling out increased import duties for every trading partner that taxes US imports, stating that he was doing so to bring a sense of “fairness” to commerce.
Sitting in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump described the tariffs as reciprocal, meaning that the US would automatically raise its own import taxes to match existing levels in other countries.
“On trade I have decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less,” he said.
“In almost all cases, they’re charging us vastly more than we charge them,” he added. “But those days are over.”
While experts have raised concerns that Trump’s tariffs could set off a global trade war that would cause surging prices, Trump has long viewed trade as a matter of winners and losers — and he has argued that the US has been “very unfairly” treated by its allies abroad.
His heavy reliance on tariffs has also been seen as a departure from the longstanding bipartisan consensus on expanding free trade agreements with other countries.
Thursday’s tariffs are not expected to start immediately because it would require different tax hikes be set according to rates in different countries, a process that could take weeks.
Also on Thursday, he threatened the 10-country bloc known as BRICS — named for its founding members Brazil, Russia, India and China — with a “100-percent tariff at least” if the group proceeded with hypothetical plans to set up a common currency.
No such currency is in the works although BRICS leaders have floated the possibility in the past.
Still, Trump lashed out at the prospect in a question-and-answer session with reporters, accusing BRICS leaders of wanting “to play games with the dollar”.
“If any trading gets through, it’ll be 100-percent tariff at least,” Trump said.
The US president has frequently used tariffs as a means of coercing other countries to act in line with his priorities.
That includes proposed tariffs against Mexico a
