Washington, Feb 20 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has said that he will announce tariffs on cars, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals “over the next month or sooner” as he is pushing for new levies to shrink America’s trade deficits, boost domestic manufacturing and achieve other policy goals.
Trump has already announced a plan to start imposing 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports on March 12, and is seeking to slap “reciprocal” tariffs on US imports in addition to his push for duties on cars, chips, and other items, Yonhap news agency reported.
“I am going to be announcing tariffs on cars and semiconductors and chips … drugs and pharmaceuticals and lumber, probably, and some other things over the next month or sooner,” he said on Wednesday during a forum hosted by the Future Investment Initiative Institute.
“It’s going to have a big impact on America.
He reiterated that companies that do not manufacture their goods in America will face tariffs.
“We’re bringing our businesses back. If they don’t make their product in America, then very simply, they have to pay a tariff,” he said.
“If they do make their product in America, they don’t have to pay any tariff, which will bring … It’s all going to bring trillions of dollars into our treasury or it’s going to mean that there won’t be any taxes because we want to have a fair base.”
Trump’s tariff-related announcements have been keenly watched by policymakers in Seoul amid concerns that Asia’s fourth-largest economy could be put into his administration’s crosshairs given that South Korea’s trade surplus with the US reached $55.7 billion last year.
Since returning to office on January 20, Trump has initiated numerous tariffs and made even more frequent threats to impose levies on imported goods.
They range from broad ones — a universal tariff on foreign-imported goods — to ones aimed at specific sectors, regions, or countries in an effort to get others to meet his policy demands.
Trump said his action on tariffs is already producing results:
“I do want to say, while I’m up here, I’ve been contacted by some of the biggest companies in the world. And because of what we’re doing economically and through tariffs and taxes and incentives, they want to come back into the United States. And we’ll be announcing various very large companies, the biggest, actually, and they’ll be coming back, having to do with chips and having to do also with cars.”
