China accuses Donald Trump of damaging global trade with tariffs

In a move created to strengthen American steelmakers, President Trump ordered tariffs put on imported steel and aluminum Thursday, going against loud objections from leaders in his own party, from overseas and from other American businesses.

Steel tariffs of 25 per cent on “foreign steel” were announced by American President Donald Trump this afternoon.

Trump’s unexpected announcement of the tariffs last week roiled stock markets as it raised the prospect of an escalating global trade war.

The tariffs will go into effect 15 days from the proclamation signing, according to a White House official.

The immediate and vociferous protests of the tariff proposal have apparently led the administration to ratchet back its rhetoric and replace it with a softer approach, including exemptions for some nations.

“In the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks, a lot of countries had built up a lot of goodwill toward the Americans and that sort of put a dent in that because all of a sudden, the Americans were sort of willy-nilly putting tariffs on everyone regardless of whether they were seen as good actors or bad actors”, Guida said.

US tariffs could push producers to sell still more to Southeast Asia, depressing steel prices. Arconic, a spinoff of Alcoa, has production operations in Cleveland.

It said it would study the move’s impact on Japanese companies before responding further. The latest tariffs threats were just one more and some industry executives said they were prepared for it.

Flanked by a handful of steel and aluminium workers, Trump presented the move as a way to rebuild vital industries decimated by foreign competition.

“The EU is a close ally of the U.S. and we continue to be of the view that the EU should be excluded from these measures”, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said on Twitter. He says that too many countries have taken advantage of the United States for too long.

The bloc had already threatened reprisals in the event of tariffs being imposed, warning it would respond to higher charges with tit-for-tat measures on a range of United States products including jeans, orange juice and even Harley Davidson motorbikes. The president said he would exempt Canada and Mexico while negotiating for changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

While carrying a message to Washington to push forward a diplomatic breakthrough over North Korea, South Korea’s national security office chief, Chung Eui-yong, requested us officials to support Seoul’s request for a waiver, a presidential spokesperson said.

One of the reasons for this sentiment is because Chinese products have faced many USA trade barriers over the years. The European Union, for example, imposed a duty of as much as 73.7 percent on Chinese steel just a few years ago, all in an effort to protect jobs and European economies.

China’s steel and metals associations demanded retaliation, urging the government to target United States imports including coal, agricultural products and electronics. Cases also can be brought based on subsidies, or when governments provide unfair support to their steel industries that drives down the cost of product sold in the U.S. Barely 2% of the steel imported into the USA past year came from China, according to data from S&P Global Platts.

Trump then quickly replied: “Then he’s even more proud of you, he’s even more proud”. The worldwide union applauded the tariffs.