It is getting somewhat ridiculous now but that is to be expected under a President like Donald Trump.
Once again his administration has officially delayed imposing higher tariffs on US imports, while sending letters to 14 countries including Japan and South Korea detailing the levies they face.
The latest development comes as a 90-day pause the White House placed on some of its most aggressive import taxes was set to expire this week.
And as India waits with bated breath for the White House to clear the draft ‘bilateral trade agreement’ (BTA) it has submitted, Trump has threatened to impose an additional 10 percent tariff on BRICS countries.
Higher tariffs had been set to come into effect on 9 July, having previously been suspended with White House officials saying they would look to strike trade deals.
This latest extension is no surprise since trade agreements often take years to finalise.
The arbitrary tariffs proposed in identical letters sent by Trump to the heads of government of 14 countries are seen as arm-twisting smaller trading partners and as a signal to others. The tariffs proposed ignore the fact that most of the 14 countries impose less than a 10 percent tariff on US goods. South Korea, in fact, charges zero tariffs on US goods while Japan charges 2.2 percent. And yet Trump renewed his threat of a 25 percent tax on products entering the US from these two countries, who are close allies of the Americans in East Asia.
Friend or foe, it doesn’t really matter to the mercurial, unpredictable and downright unstable US government. Even Laos and Myanmar, the two countries which have attracted 40 percent tariff on goods exported to the US, charge just 0.97 percent and 1.81 percent respectively on US goods entering their countries. Bangladesh, which has been slapped with 35 percent tariffs, imposes a 10.99 percent duty on American goods.
When he last suspended the new tariffs on April 9, Trump had claimed that countries were falling over each other to sign deals with the US, which he predicted would amount to 90 in the next 90 days. Instead, with that deadline ending, the Americans have little to show for all that bluster.
All that the US has to show is an agreement with the UK, a trade deal with Vietnam, and a ‘framework agreement’ with China — nothing like signing 90 deals in 90 days.
Meanwhile, Trump once again claimed on Monday that the US and India were very close to signing a deal. Indian sources in the Commerce Ministry have also confirmed that India has presented to the US the concessions it is willing to make but that India had drawn a line when it came to agriculture and the dairy sector.
Don’t give in to bullies. It’s a lesson everyone learns at some point in their life. Has India done so with Trump yet?
