 "Donald Trump")
US President Donald Trump on Friday signed two proclamations that impose 25 per cent tariff on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminium, a move that is likely to start a global trade war.
The contentious tariffs come into effect in 15 days.
Though primarily targeted at the massive steel and aluminium dumping by China, only two countries Canada and Mexico have been exempted from the new import tariff, that too till the time the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations are complete.
Other countries would have to negotiate with US Trade Representatives (USTR) if they want exemptions from the steel and aluminium import tariff, Trump said as he vowed to slap "reciprocal tariffs" on countries like China and India if they do not match America's tariff.
Trump signed the proclamations in presence of steel workers from Pennsylvania, Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, United States Trade Representative Robert E Lighthizer and economist Peter Navarro, architect of his steel and aluminium policy.
Meanwhile, 11 countries including Japan and Canada signed a landmark Asia-Pacific trade agreement without the United States on Thursday in what one minister called a powerful signal against protectionism and trade wars.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will reduce tariffs in countries that together amount to more than 13 per cent of the global economy - a total of $10 trillion in gross domestic product. With the United States, it would have represented 40 per cent.
Reiterating that countries including America's "friends and allies" have been fleecing the US economy and taking away jobs for decades, Trump pledged to impose "reciprocal tax".
"We're going to be doing a reciprocal tax programme at some point so that if China is going to charge us 25 per cent or if India is going to charge us 75 per cent and we charge them nothing. They are 50, they are 75 or they are 25, we are going to be doing the same numbers. It's called reciprocal. It's a mirror of tags. So they charge us 50, we would charge them 50," Trump said in his remarks before signing the two proclamations.
The US President said the stage for the imposition of reciprocal tax has been set in the first year of his administration.
"They will charge us 50, we charge them nothing. Doesn't work. So that's called a reciprocal tax ... mirror attacks. We will be going to be doing a lot of them," Trump said.
"American companies have not been treated fairly and some American companies frankly have taken advantage of it and gone to other countries and developed in Mexico, massive automobile plants, taking our jobs away and taking our companies down to Mexico to make the cars and then they send them right across the border without tax, without anything," he said.
Trump said a strong steel and aluminium industry are vital to US national security.
"Absolutely vital. Steel is steel. You don't have steel. You don't have a country. Our industries have been targeted for years and years. Decades, in fact, by unfair foreign trade practices, leading to the shuttered plants and mills, the laying-off of millions of workers, and the decimation of entire communities. That's going to stop," he said.
Trump said the "unfair" foreign trade practices were not merely an "economic disaster" but a "security disaster" and by signing the two proclamations he was defending America's national security.
"We want to build our ships, we want to build our planes, we want to build our military equipment with steel, with aluminium from our country. And now we're finally taking action to correct this long-overdue problem. It's a travesty," he said.
Stating that he wants a lot of steel coming to the US, Trump asserted that he wants it to be "fair".
"We want our workers to be protected and we want, frankly, our companies to be protected. By contrast, we will not place any new tax on a product made in the USA. So there's no tax if a product is made in the USA. You don't want to pay tax? Bring your plant to the USA. There's no tax," he said.
The action being taken, the president said, follows a nine-month investigation by the Department of Commerce, documenting a growing crisis in US steel and aluminium production that threatens the security of the country. It is also bad or US economically and with jobs, he rued.
Trump called the "aggressive" foreign trade practices an "assault on our country".
"The American steel and aluminium industry has been ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices. It's really an assault on our country. It's been an assault. They know better than anybody. Other countries have added production capacity that far exceeds demand. And flooded the world market with cheap metal that is subsidised by foreign governments, creating jobs for their country and taking away jobs from our country," he said.
China has an annual trade deficit of nearly $500 billion with America and ranks 11 among the largest sources of US steel imports.
"Well, we'll let it happen, but they've got to pay. So trans-shipping, frankly, is a big deal," Trump said as he announced US is going to stop the trans-shipping.
"And they trans-ship, and we're going to accept their product, but it's going to cost a lot of money from the standpoint of the trans-shipper," he added.
"We're in the midst of a big negotiation. I don't know that anything is going to come of it. They have been very helpful. President Xi, I have great respect for. A lot of respect," he said.
"But we're going to cut down the deficits one way or the other. We have a deficit with China of at least $500 billion. When you add an intellectual property, it's much higher than that," Trump added.
China cautioned on Thursday that it was prepared to "make an appropriate and necessary response" should the United States impose the tariffs.
Referring to a tweet by Tesla head Elon Musk, Trump said China charges 25 per cent duty on American cars whereas it is just 2.5 per cent on import of Chinese cars into the United States.
China cautioned on Thursday that it was prepared to "make an appropriate and necessary response" should the United States impose the tariffs.
Referring to a tweet by Tesla head Elon Musk, Trump said China charges 25 per cent duty on American cars whereas it is just 2.5 per cent on import of Chinese cars into the United States.
"Very interesting, I saw a tweet, just came in from Elon Musk who's using our wonderful space facilities and did a great job three weeks ago. He said, "For example, an American car going to China pays 25 per cent import duty.
But a Chinese car coming to the United States only pays 2.5 per cent. A tenfold difference'," the US President said.
The import tariffs are also likely to face retaliation from America's top trading partner, the European Union.
Britain, currently a member of the EU, criticised the announcement, saying it was the "wrong way" to resolve trade disputes.
"We can deal multilaterally with the overproduction of steel but this is the wrong way to go about it," Britain's Trade Minister Liam Fox told the live TV audience of a BBC current affairs show, adding protectionism and tariffs never really work.
Fox said he would travel to Washington next week for meetings with US officials about the tariffs and the possible exemptions for America's allies.
Fox argued it was "doubly absurd" to target Britain with steel tariffs on national security grounds when it only provided the US with one percent of its imports and made steel for the American military.
The British steel industry could be badly hit by the tariffs, with trade body UK Steel saying the tariffs could have a "profound and detrimental impact".
Following the announcement of the tariffs, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said that she feared a "tit-for-tat" escalation of trade retaliation that would sap business confidence and investment.
Lagarde, speaking at a Washington Post forum on women's issues, said it was not the direct economic impact from the tariffs that concerned her most, but its role as a "trigger" for retaliatory responses from trading partners worldwide.
"It is that escalation that is in and of itself dangerous for the impact that it has on all those economies, and furthermore for the impact that it has on confidence," Lagarde said, noting that trade has been an engine of growth that has fueled a stronger global recovery in recent months.
