Trump imposes tariffs, spares allies.
Canada, Mexico temporarily exempt from new trade policy
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday imposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum but offered relief to some U.S. allies, as the president bucked his party allies to pursue his long-held goal of rewriting what he views as rigged rules of international trade.
The tariffs, set to take effect in 15 days, mark Trump’s broadest step yet to favor U.S. industries over their foreign competitors, but they stop short of his earlier plan to impose sweeping tariffs that would have hit U.S. allies and rivals alike.
The tariffs contain an initial exemption for Canada and Mexico, as the administration seeks broader trade concessions from both countries as it renegotiates the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump said he will consider exemptions for other allies that change their trade policies with the United States.
These terms effectively invited every foreign ally to undergo a fresh trade negotiation with the United States, as Trump hopes to leverage the threat of tariffs to win more favorable terms from nations around the globe.
“I’ll have a right to go up
or down depending on the country, and I’ll have a right to drop out countries or add countries,” Trump said Thursday while previewing his announcement in an appearance alongside his Cabinet. “We’re going to be very fair, we’re going to be very flexible, but we’re going to protect the American worker — as I said I would do in my campaign.”
But where Trump sees an opportunity to protect U.S. blue-collar workers, his fellow Republicans — joined by some Democrats, business leaders and many economists — fear he’s embarking on an impractical negotiating process that could escalate into a global trade war.
The fear of U.S. firms losing access to foreign markets was heightened Thursday when 11 Pacific nations signed their own agreement to lower tariffs — enacting a version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that the United States initially pursued as a way to deepen trade with Asia.
While fellow GOP leaders expressed relief that Trump had at least initially spared some allies, they continued to push Trump to abandon his plans.
“I disagree with this action and fear its unintended consequences,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “We will continue to urge the administration to narrow this policy so that it is focused only on those countries and practices that violate trade law.”
The new terms give countries that export steel and aluminum strong incentives to seek exemptions. For countries subject to the tariffs, steel imports will be taxed at 25 percent and aluminum imports at 10 percent. If Mexico and Canada win permanent exemptions, tariffs on imports from other nations may be increased beyond 25 percent, a Trump official said Thursday.
The announcement capped a frenetic stretch — even by the new standards of the Trump White House — since the president shocked his party and top advisers last week with an off-the-cuff announcement that tariffs were coming.
After an internal sprint to refine a tariff plan, many on Trump’s staff were caught off guard again Thursday morning when he wrote on Twitter he’d be making a tariff announcement that afternoon.
The meeting was not on the president’s daily schedule. Several hours after Trump’s tweet, senior White House aides did not know whether the announcement would happen at all.
The tariffs do have a small coalition of supporters in Congress, including some Democrats from states whose industries stand to benefit.
“As big, multilateral trade agreements have been ratified and Wall Street and big corporations line their pockets, we’ve seen jobs pour out of West Virginia for cheaper labor markets in foreign countries,” said Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va. “I’m glad we are finally standing up for ourselves, and I applaud President Trump’s leadership and willingness to hold places like China accountable for the damage they’ve done to our economy.”