Additional customs duties of 10 % from March 4: by this announcement made this Thursday, February 27, Donald Trump still sets up a cran the tax on Chinese products. The American president also said that the surcharges aimed at Canada and Mexico would also come into force on this date.
Donald Trump accuses these three countries of promoting the entry of fentanyl drugs to the United States: its Canadian and Mexican neighbors by not securing the border enough, and China by hosting the production of chemical precursors of this synthetic opioid that wreaked havoc on American soil.
“As long as this scourge continues or will not be seriously contained, the customs duties announced (with regard to Canada and Mexico) will come into force on March 4, according to the scheduled calendar” and “China will also be imposed an additional customs right of 10 % on this date,” said Donald Trump on his social social network.
A “pretext” according to China
For Canada and Mexico, this implies customs duties of 25 % on their exports to the United States. Washington plans to tax the Canadian energy sector less, 10 %. Canada alone represents 60 % of crude oil imports from the United States.
As for Chinese products, all have already been targeted since the beginning of February by 10 % additional customs duties, to which Beijing responded with targeted surcharges on American exports. This Thursday’s announcement therefore implies that the surcharge increases to 20 % from March 4 for Chinese products, explained an official of the White House at AFP.
The latter said that the United States government did not notice enough progress in the face of the influx of drugs, and that it did not want to deal separately from the countries forming a “block” in the supply circuit. Presenting itself as one of the most uncompromising countries with regard to drug trafficking, China recently criticized the United States government for using fentanyl traffic as a “pretext”.
Threat to EU countries
The new customs barriers with regard to Canada and Mexico, countries theoretically protected by a free trade agreement, initially had to enter into force in early February. But Donald Trump had flipped a few hours before the deadline, ensuring that he had obtained commitments from the two countries on border security, facing transfectors as well as illegal immigrants. He had given them a 30 -day stay until Tuesday, March 4. “We hope to be able to speak with President Trump, […] That we can reach an agreement and that on March 4, we can announce something else, “reacted Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, during a press conference this Thursday morning.
The American president also said on Thursday that he still intended to impose in addition to “reciprocal” customs duties with regard to the trade partners of the United States from April 2. For him, this implies smoothing the disparities: if an American product is, for example, taxed 40 % by arriving in India, Washington will set up the same level of tax in the other direction.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump plans to surcharge steel and aluminum from March 12, whatever their origin. Must then come to cars, pharmaceutical products, construction woods, etc. The Republican President also threatened on Wednesday to inflict “soon” 25 % additional customs duties on European Union (EU), believing that his raison d’être was to “enter the United States. The European block will have to reply, the French Minister of the Economy Eric Lombard told AFP on Thursday. “Even if it is unfavorable to the general interest, we too must protect our interests and the interests of the EU countries,” said Eric Lombard during a G20 meeting in CAP, in South Africa. The EU will adopt “proportionate” measures, “said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.