Donald Trump reaffirms ‘minimum’ 10 pc baseline tariff

Washington: US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his administration’s “minimum” 10 percent baseline tariff on U.S. imports, but raised the possibility of an “exception,” as South Korea and other countries are striving to avoid or minimise the impact of new U.S. levies.

Trump made the remarks as he responded to a question over whether the baseline tariff will continue to be in effect even if countries offer zero tariffs on U.S. exports in pursuit of “reciprocity.”

“You are going to always have a baseline. I mean, there could be an exception at some point. We’ll see if somebody does something exceptional for us,” Trump told reporters at the White House after signing executive orders, reports Yonhap news agency.

“It’s always possible, but basically, you have a baseline of a minimum of 10 percent and some of them will be much higher — 40 percent, 50 percent and 60 percent as they have been doing to us over the years,” he added.

He pointed out that there will be four or five more trade deals “coming immediately,” but he did not specify which countries will reach those deals with the U.S.

The baseline tariff went into effect on April 5, while Trump paused higher country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs, including 25 percent duties on South Korea, until July 8 to allow for negotiations over tariff- and non-tariff barriers and other related issues.

Meanwhile, a US State Department spokesperson said that continued cooperation between China and Russia will make the United States and other countries “less safe,” “less secure” and “less prosperous” after the leaders of the two countries issued a joint statement defending North Korea.

On Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin released the summit statement, in which they reportedly called on “relevant states to abandon the policy of unilateral coercive measures and military pressure” against North Korea.

“As President Trump has said, continued cooperation between these two nuclear powers will only further contribute to global instability and make the United States and other countries less safe, less secure and less prosperous,” the spokesperson said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.

—IANS