BANGKOK – U.S. President Donald Trump defended on Tuesday his policy on tariffs saying reciprocal duties to be imposed across the board from April 2 would not only protect U.S. jobs but would defend the soul of the country.
Trump, in his address to a joint session of Congress six weeks after taking office for a second term, said tariffs was “a beautiful word” and his policy was already seeing manufacturers relocating facilities to the U.S. from Asia.
“On April 2, reciprocal tariffs kick in and whatever they charge us on tariffs we will charge them, a reciprocal back and forth,” Trump said to the applause of his Republican supporters.
“If they use non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, we will use non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the U.S. imposed 25% duties on Mexican and Canadian imports and doubled tariffs imposed on China last month to 20%.
China responded immediately, taxing U.S. farm imports by as much as 15%. It also imposed export and investment restrictions on 25 American firms, citing national security.
“The Chinese people will not be intimidated,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular news conference.
In his speech to Congress, Trump said China was already taxing U.S. exporters too much.
“China’s average tariff is twice what we charge them,” he said, adding that he would match any country’s retaliatory tariffs.
Trump said the threat of tariffs had already had an impact on the business plans of Japan’s Honda, America’s Apple and Taiwan chipmaker TSMC. All three companies recently announced large investments to shift some manufacturing to the U.S.
“If you don’t make your product in America you will pay a tariff,” Trump said.
“Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs, they are about protecting the soul of our country.”
While economists have warned of the impact of tariffs on pushing up prices for U.S. consumers, Trump dismissed concerns of any negative impact.
“There may be a little bit of a disturbance but we’re OK with that,” he said.
Trump said he could balance the budget while offering “tax cuts for everyone.”
China’s premier Li Qiang said China’s economy would match last year’s growth in spite of a trade war with the U.S.
Speaking at the opening of the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing on Wednesday, he said the economy would expand by around 5% this year.
Li said Beijing was willing to let the budget deficit expand to fuel an upturn in domestic demand as the “main engine and anchor” of growth.
Trading accusations on drugs
Part of the reason for Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada is what he says is their failure to stop the flow of deadly fentanyl into the United States, which the U.S. president said Tuesday was “destroying our families.”
Both of those countries have defended their actions to stop drug smuggling.
Trump has also accused China of failing to stamp out production of the synthetic opioid but China says it has already done its part to control the drug and it should not be blamed for a U.S. “governance failure.”
On Tuesday, Beijing released a white paper highlighting the steps it had taken to control the spread of fentanyl.
“These have delivered notable results,” it said.
Reporting on the findings, the state-run tabloid Global Times hit out at Trump for blaming China for America’s opioid problem and punishing it with tariffs.
“Shifting the responsibility for domestic governance failures onto others and abusing tariffs as a means of pressure and coercion will not cure America’s ills, nor will it help Washington achieve its political objectives,” it said in an editorial.
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In his speech, Trump also repeated his pledge to take control of the Panama Canal.
“It was given away by the Carter administration for one dollar but that agreement has been violated,” he said. “We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holding said a consortium including America’s BlackRock would acquire Hutchison Ports and Panama Ports giving it control of the ports at either end of the canal.
