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Trump signs sweeping tariffs, defying trade war warnings

March 11, 2018 03:47·
Iran Must Raise Steel Import Tariff to Counter Trump's Levy

Iran Must Raise Steel Import Tariff to Counter Trump's Levy

Japan's top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the move could harm the global trading system and the entire world economy and said Tokyo would urge the U.S. to give the country an exemption.

With a "bring it on" bravado, Trump is following through on his announcement last week that he would slap a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum, calling the imports a threat to national security. We'll be doing something with some other countries, he said.

"Many of the countries that treat us the worst on trade and on the military are our allies, as they call them", he complained.

The European Union, Brazil and Argentina said overnight they should not be targeted or would seek exemptions, and both Japan and South Korea said they would ask to be made exceptions also.

South Korea is the sixth biggest USA trading partner and a key military ally in Asia.

While the possibility of retaliating over steel and hitting agricultural imports and other sectors has been mentioned previously, it was the first time that coal has been drawn into the brewing spat. Of those imports, South Korea, Japan, China and India accounted for 6.6 million tonnes.

And while the full economic impact remains unknown, the political fallout was swift with the top Republican in Congress Paul Ryan publicly denouncing Trump's move, and vowing to push him to narrow its focus to "countries and practices that violate trade law".

FOX Business' Charles Payne argued that the depletion of the steel and aluminum industry will cut competition and increase pricing on imports.

China, the world's biggest exporter, accused the United States of carrying out protectionism in the name of national security.

He was genuinely glad at the U.S. leader's posture on trade, proud that the horse he had backed was coming through on the things that matter to him.

The dispute has fuelled concerns that soybeans, the United States' most valuable export to the world's second largest economy, might be caught up in the trade actions after Beijing launched a probe into imports of USA sorghum, a grain used in animal feed and liquor.

Tokyo and Brussels rejected any suggestion that their exports to the United States threatened the country's national security - Trump's justification for imposing the tariffs despite warnings at home and overseas that they could provoke a global trade war.

Tamny states the tariff plan is meant to protect a minimal amount of jobs in the USA while making consumers pay more.

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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 South Korea's request for a waiver on the steel tariffs, a South Korean presidential spokesman said.

After months of frantic lobbying, diplomatic arm-twisting and heated debates within his own administration, Trump made good on his tariff threat at the White House, surrounded by steelworkers.

It's also the third largest exporter of steel to the United States, accounting for about 10% of United States imports of the metal by volume, according to S&P Global Platts.

Beijing is expected to target soybeans, one of the most valuable USA exports to China.

Other officials at the EU, by far the biggest trading partner of the United States by value, have warned it could take countermeasures including European tariffs on U.S. oranges, tobacco and bourbon.

The official said ways had to be found to address steel overcapacity in China as South Korea was the top importer of Chinese steel, although shipments from China were 21 percent down in 2017 from the previous year. "We look forward to 2018", U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt told industry analysts February 1, according to a transcript at the website Seeking Alpha.

"Exemptions will not address the fundamental problems tariffs will create for US auto and truck manufacturing".

In Sydney, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cited Washington's strong relationship with Australia, adding: "There is no case for imposing tariffs on Australian steel".

The president did not say whether he will sign tariffs on steel and aluminum imports at the meeting.

Daniel Pinto, a co-president at JPMorgan Chase & Co, said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday that the US equities could fall by between 20 and 40 percent over the next three years if a global trade war breaks out. If the USA leaves NAFTA and all sides raise their steel tariffs, the US would certainly destroy its trade surplus with NAFTA.

Shares in China's steel and aluminium makers fell on Friday morning. But sometimes chaos produces just more. chaos.

In the second meeting, Seoul complained about rising USA trade remedies, including steep safeguard duties on its washers and solar panels, while American negotiators called for an easing of regulations on the auto sector to reduce its trade deficit.

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