US President Donald Trump announces pause on reciprocal tariffs (PC: X/GlobeEyeNews)
New Delhi: A day after Beijing sought New Delhi’s support against the Washington tariff action, the United States’ president, Donald Trump, announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs on most countries, including India, on Thursday, but raised to 125 per cent for China.
Previously declared 104 per cent for China, the new announcement by Trump against Beijing sparked fears of a major trade war, triggering a global market meltdown, and also raising concerns of a looming global recession. For India, Trump had announced a reciprocal tariffs of 27 per cent on April 2.
On TruthSocial, Trump said over 75 countries had not retaliated against the United States, and therefore he authorized a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariff, which the Republican leader introduced as a measure to address the alleged trade imbalance with the US.
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"... based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States... to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorised a 90 day PAUSE," he wrote on TruthSocial.
He said that during this 90-day period, a significantly reduced reciprocal tariff of just 10 per cent would be in effect.
On hiking tariffs against China, he said: "Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the USA, and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”
In a sharp response, China’s Xi Jinping administration slapped an 84 per cent tariff on US goods the same day and vowed to fight the tariff war to the very end.
Further escalating the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, Beijing imposed export restrictions on several US companies and filed a fresh complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), warning that the US tariffs pose a serious threat to global trade stability.
The US president’s announcement of a tariff pause also came in the wake of a retaliatory tariff threat from the European Union.
Joining China and Canada, the 27-member bloc said it would launch its first countermeasures against Trump’s tariffs next week, imposing 25 per cent duties on a range of US imports.
