President Trump Signs Off On Plan To Impose Reciprocal Tariffs
On Feb. 13, President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum that paves the way for his administration to begin a review process to initiate reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
Specifically, the memo directs the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to submit a report detailing proposals for each U.S. trading partner. Trump administration officials said they expected those consultations would be complete by early April 2025. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought would then submit a report within 180 days to assess the fiscal impact of proposed tariffs.
Specifically, the U.S. government’s investigation will examine:
- Tariffs imposed on U.S. products;
- So-called unfair, discriminatory, or extraterritorial taxes imposed by trading partners on U.S. businesses, workers, and consumers, including a value-added tax;
- Costs to U.S. businesses, workers, and consumers arising from non-tariff barriers or measures that trading partners have put in place;
- Unfair or harmful acts, policies, or practices, including subsidies, and burdensome regulatory requirements on that have been placed on U.S. businesses operating in other countries;
- Policies and practices that cause exchange rates to deviate from their market value to the detriment of Americans;
- Mercantilist policies that make U.S. businesses and workers less competitive;
- Wage suppression tactics; and
- Any other practice deemed to impose any unfair limitation on market access or any structural impediment to fair competition with the United States’ market economy.
Read the White House’s fact sheet explaining the memo at this link.