 "'Will bring back our wealth': Trump claims 'a lot was stolen' from America due to incompetent leadership")
While taking potshots at his predecessors, US President Donald Trump vowed to “take back what was stolen” from the country. The remarks from the American president came after the US challenged its allies on Wednesday and increased tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25 per cent. In retalition to this both Canada and the European Union imposed respective tariffs, ensuing a new kind of trade war at the global level.
“The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and, frankly, by incompetent US leadership," Trump told reporters on Wednesday “We’re going to take back our wealth, and we’re going to take back a lot of the companies that left," he added. The Republican firebrand has been using tariffs as a tool to extract concessions from other nations.
However, these tariffs are not sitting well with some of the nations who are hitting back as well. It is pertinent to note that before these overarching tariffs, Trump already imposed separate duties on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting on April 2.
US allies are retaliating
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, the European Union (EU) announced its own set of tariffs against the US. On Wednesday, the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that as the US was applying tariffs worth $28 billion, the EU would respond by matching the value.
Von der Leyen maintained that these measures will not only cover steel and aluminum products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods, are due to take effect on April 1.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“We deeply regret this measure, Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for businesses and even worse for consumers,” Von der Leyen said while announcing the move. In response to this, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that the EU was punishing America instead of fixing what he viewed as excess capacity in steel and aluminium production.
“The EU’s punitive action completely disregards the national security imperatives of the United States – and indeed international security – and is yet another indicator that the EU’s trade and economic policies are out of step with reality,” he said in a statement.
During the Wednesday meeting with Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Trump said “of course” he wants to respond to Ethe U’s retaliations and “of course” Ireland is taking advantage of the United States. “The EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States,” Trump averred. In response to this, Martin emphasised that more than 700 Irish companies operate in the United States, which contributes significantly to job creation.
Meanwhile, Canada , which is the largest foreign supplier of steel and aluminium to the United States, is also planning to impose retaliatory tariffs of $29.8 billion ($20.7 billion) starting Thursday in response to the US taxes on the metals. Canada’s new tariffs would be on steel and aluminium products, as well as US goods including computers, sports equipment and water heaters worth $14.2 billion Canadian ($9.9 billion), the Associated Press reported.
With inputs from agencies.
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