Asia’s biggest exporters bristle over US tariffs, fanning trade war fears
BEIJING: United States trading partners, led by Asian powerhouses China and Japan, lashed out on Friday at controversial tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium signed off by President Donald Trump, as fears grew of a global trade war.
Close ally Japan warned the tariffs of 25 per cent on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminium “could have a grave impact on the economic relationship” between the world’s top and third-largest economies.
Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the move could harm the global trading system and the entire world economy and said Tokyo would urge the US to give the country an exemption.
The world’s second-biggest economy, China, was also vocal in its opposition, deriding the tariffs as “a serious attack on normal international trade order.”
In a sharp reversal from decades of a Usled drive towards more open trade, Trump declared on Thursday that America had been “ravaged by aggressive foreign trade practices.”
“It’s really an assault on our country,” he blasted, announcing the tariffs on the metals used in everything from cars to construction, roads to railways.
Trump said the tariffs — which will come into effect after 15 days — will not initially apply to Canada and Mexico, and that close partners on security and trade could negotiate exemptions.
Canada was the single-largest US source of steel last year, followed by Brazil, South Korea, Russia, Mexico, Japan and Germany.
The US neighbour to the north was also by far the largest supplier of alumina and aluminium, followed by China, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump had indicated he would be flexible towards “real friends,” and during the signing confirmed Canada and Mexico would be exempted permanently if the ongoing renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement is successful. But both Mexico and Canada rejected Trump’s linkage of the levies to ongoing NAFTA talks.
Canada’s foreign affairs minister termed the two things “separate issues” while Mexico’s economy ministry said “the negotiation of the NAFTA should not be subject to conditions outside the process.”
The US leader had also added Australia to a list of likely carve-outs, as a “great country” and “long-term partner.”
However, he took aim at Germany, reviving a longstanding gripe that European Nato allies do not pay their fair share.
“Many of the countries that treat us the worst on trade and on the military are our allies, as they call them,” he complained.
The EU, Brazil and Britain were also quick to launch broadsides against the tariffs, which are worth billions of dollars.
Trump pressed ahead with the imposition of 25pc tariffs on steel imports and 10pc for aluminium on Thursday, though he announced exemptions for Canada and Mexico, and said exceptions could also be made for other allies.