President Trump issued a presidential memorandum proposing reciprocal tariffs to counteract unfair trade practices by foreign trading partners.
The presidential memorandum outlines the scope of the investigation, which will assess:
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- Tariffs imposed on U.S. products
- Unfair, discriminatory, or extraterritorial taxes, including value-added taxes, levied on U.S. businesses, workers, and consumers
- Costs to U.S. businesses, workers, and consumers resulting from non-tariff barriers, subsidies, regulatory burdens, and other restrictive measures
- Policies and practices that manipulate exchange rates to the disadvantage of Americans
- Wage suppression
- Other mercantilist policies that reduce the competitiveness of U.S. businesses and workers
- Any additional practices that unfairly limit market access or create structural barriers to fair competition with the U.S. market economy
According to reports, the Commerce Secretary and U.S. Trade Representative, in collaboration with the Treasury and Homeland Security secretaries, will first review countries that impose the highest tariffs on U.S. goods. The investigation is expected to begin after April 1, following the submission of several trade-related reports, though no deadline has been set for its completion.