US reciprocal tariffs coming soon, will impose one rate per country

All the tariffs I've heard proposed by other countries are reciprocal--their attempts to deal with Trump's unfairness. As usual since 1/20, we're in the wrong.

Valletta said:

US reciprocal tariffs will impose one rate per country, White House adviser says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs planned for April 2 will impose one rate for each country that will reflect tariffs and non-tariff measures imposed on the U.S., White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC in...

kfgo.com

President Trump has indicated these reciprocal tariffs will come very soon. As with so many other causes championed by conservatives, reciprocal tariffs are about fairness.

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The problem is can you believe US government estimates of what is fair? If it is like what a new policy costs it is always at least x2 of what they project. If the USA inflates tariffs and non-tariff barriers (the latter are basically impossible to accurately measure anyway) then the retaliation will hit hard. By the way some non-tariff barriers are legit.
"The World Trade Organization (WTO) identifies various non-tariff barriers to trade, including import licensing, pre-shipment inspections, rules of origin, custom delayers, and other mechanisms that prevent or restrict trade."

Other non-tariff barriers might be about safety or health concerns, environmental costs that are collected or subsidies given to certain firms or industries. Trump does not seem to be about fairness but instead is using trade to punish everyone, something that formerly was only reserved for US enemies.

Valletta said:

With reciprocal tariffs when a country imposes a tariff on the U.S. then Trump will impose an equal tariff. FAIRNESS is what Trump is about, not pushing a left-wing agenda using taxpayer money to try and gain favors and influence.

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You can't really impose an exact reciprocal tariff on non-tariff barriers. In the past Germany refused to allow most imports of beer because the quality was deemed low. https://www.biicl.org/files/1995_c-178-84.pdf
The EU ruled against Germany and they got rid of the barrier. Some barriers are legitimate. For instance if Mad cow disease is found in a nation, is it OK to stop beef imports? Yes, that is fairly clear. However, some nations go overboard with restrictions not because of safety but because they want to regulate imports without using regular tariffs. So lets say China restricts soybeans over a few impurities found. (recent cases cite beetles). For the USA to initiate a reciprocal tariff, you would have to know the dollar amount that this effects the USA. That is not an easy task especially since there is no export from China that is close to this product. I would argue that the USA in some cases is initiating extremely high tariff rates by inflating the cost of non-tariff barriers. 10%, 25%, only on certain products. If you do that math those numbers are not based on actual reciprocal trade data, but rather just subjective for the most part. Trump even admits that some tariffs are for Fentanyl or other excuses. In some instances other nations have a lower average weighted tariff than the USA. That too matters little to Trump. Trump thus far is just using tariffs for control and manipulation. I myself favor fair trade with friendly nations, and favor restrictions on trade for unfriendly nations. That however is not what Trump is doing. Even worse when you select certain industry groups like oil over farmers, criticism can be leveled that Trump took so much money from oil companies for his campaign that he now favors them. I guess we will see what the "new" tariffs are and how based in reality they are to what the other nations charge us. We will see if certain industry groups are favored, or if it really is a reasonable assessment of what the other nation charges us. Fairness is great, but it is hard to be objective especially on the cost of non-tariff barriers.

Valletta said:

US reciprocal tariffs will impose one rate per country, White House adviser says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs planned for April 2 will impose one rate for each country that will reflect tariffs and non-tariff measures imposed on the U.S., White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC in...

kfgo.com

President Trump has indicated these reciprocal tariffs will come very soon. As with so many other causes championed by conservatives, reciprocal tariffs are about fairness.

Click to expand...

Since the tariffs being imposed on the US are a result of being tariffed by the US, more tariffs will be imposed on the US to make up for the new "reciprocal US tariffs."

Gregory Thompson said:

Since the tariffs being imposed on the US are a result of being tariffed by the US, more tariffs will be imposed on the US to make up for the new "reciprocal US tariffs."

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Yes, it could spiral to become a tariff race but Trump at some point will try to stem the Wall Street Collapse.

Richard T said:

Yes, it could spiral to become a tariff race but Trump at some point will try to stem the Wall Street Collapse.

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Yeah, money is a finite resource, so it has to end sometime. For sure.

Gregory Thompson said:

Yeah, money is a finite resource, so it has to end sometime. For sure.

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Every product and every country has a point where they will not trade in that product. Take Canada's lumber which got raised to 14%. I imagine that you will see far more USA lumber produced rather than pay that tariff. Mills will ramp up production and consumers will pay more.

There is lots of inefficient shifting going on because of tariffs that are losses for both nations. Lindt Candies I read was making the candy sold into Canada from their USA factory. With tariffs going to 25%, they said they will simply source that production destined to Canada from their EU factories, so American will not export it anymore. They end up paying more in shipping but avoid the tariff.

With confiscatory tariffs on Canadian lumber, how will Los Angeles and the Florida Gulf rebuild?
Just got back from Florida. They are still removing rubble from St. Pete. Businesses shuttered, unemployment rampant. These places will need affordable lumber desperately.