U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on agricultural imports starting April 2, in what marks his latest threat regarding trade barriers on goods other countries sell in the United States.
“To America’s great farmers: get ready to start producing a lot more agricultural products to sell WITHIN the United States. The tariffs will be applied to foreign products on April 2. Have fun!” the president wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump did not specify which products will be affected or if there will be exceptions.
The president has repeatedly called tariffs “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and has used them as a negotiating tool both in his first term (2017-2021) and the current one to secure concessions on trade, migration and security.
Since returning to the White House on January 20, Trump has announced tariffs against several countries, though so far he has only applied one: on February 4, he imposed a 10% levy on Chinese imports.
This Tuesday, he is expected to apply an additional 10% tariff on Chinese products, raising the tax burden to 20% on those goods. These measures add to the tariffs imposed during his first term on over $300 billion in Chinese products, most of which remain in effect.
Additionally, Trump may impose 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada as early as tomorrow, though he has not yet made a final decision, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“Drugs continue to enter our country from Mexico and Canada at very high and unacceptable levels,” the president explained last week on his Truth Social platform.
He also accuses his neighbors of not doing enough to stop irregular migration.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum calls for “resolve, calm, and patience,” but warns that her country is prepared. “Whatever the decision, we have a plan,” she said during her regular morning press conference.
Mexico handed over some of the most notorious imprisoned drug kingpins to the U.S. last week and deployed thousands of troops to the border in recent weeks, among other measures, in an effort to avoid the tariffs.
The customs tariffs are likely to have implications for supply chains in key sectors such as automobiles and construction materials.
For Ryan Majerus, a former U.S. trade official, the Republican administration is trying to address long-standing issues: fentanyl and immigration.
“And these tariffs have given the administration leverage, as we’ve seen with the response so far from Canada and Mexico.” He also aims to rebalance trade relationships and improve conditions for U.S. companies, Majerus added.
But the method, by presidential decision, is novel “and it remains to be seen how all this will play out in potential lawsuits,” warned Majerus, a partner at the law firm King & Spalding.
The president has also announced new 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, set to take effect on March 12.
Finally, in February, Trump announced the imposition of “reciprocal tariffs” on countries that tax U.S. products or apply what Washington considers to be any type of barrier, with the goal of matching the tariffs those nations impose on U.S. exports, with the European Union (EU) among the main targets.
No date has been set for these tariffs to take effect, as the first step will be preparing a report analyzing the tariffs and measures applied by each country. This document will be submitted to the president, who will make the final decision.
Image: Infobae
