Donald Trump threatened to ramp up his economic assault on some of America’s biggest trading partners on Thursday , vowing to impose new tariffs on countries that target products made in the US within weeks.
While the president and his allies believe that higher taxes on imports will help “Make America great again”, they have also claimed the mere threat of higher tariffs from the world’s largest economy can prompt nations to bend to Trump’s will.
Trump had trailed this announcement for days, at first promising news on Tuesday or Wednesday, before confirming early on Thursday morning that he would announce reciprocal tariffs – “THE BIG ONE”, he wrote on social media – later in the day.
Duties on Colombia were shelved when it agreed to accept military aircraft carrying deported migrants; duties on Canada and Mexico have been repeatedly delayed; and modified duties on steel and aluminum, announced earlier this week, will not be enforced until next month.
President says US will impose ‘reciprocal’ duties but no new specific tariffs were announced.
