President Trump has begun releasing letters saying new tariff charges that might go into impact on Aug. 1.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
OK, to different information in the present day, particularly that President Trump has adopted via with a menace he has made usually in latest weeks. He despatched letters to international nations informing them of tariffs he plans to impose on their exports to the U.S. This announcement after months of confusion over how he would proceed along with his tariffs. NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben is right here. Hey there, Danielle.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Give us slightly extra element on what precisely occurred in the present day.
KURTZLEBEN: Positive. Nicely, a pair huge issues occurred on commerce in the present day. One is that Trump started releasing these letters to international leaders, telling a number of of them what tariffs the U.S. will impose on their items beginning on August 1. Now, these nations embrace some main buying and selling companions like Japan and South Korea, each of which received 25% tariffs. However some nations are a lot increased. Some nations received 40%. And all of those are a big bounce from the place we at the moment are, which is 10% tariffs for many nations. And yet one more factor to notice – 10% is itself increased than tariffs had been on common within the final administration.
KELLY: And Danielle, I simply stated this follows months of confusion. Simply briefly stroll us again via the timeline of how we received right here.
KURTZLEBEN: Positive. So let’s return to April 2, when Trump imposed tariffs on almost each nation. And he did it on this huge Rose Backyard announcement. There was numerous fanfare. Nicely, then markets panicked ‘trigger a few of these tariffs had been actually excessive, so he pulled all of them again to 10% throughout the board. He known as it a pause, saying tariffs would keep there for 90 days till July 9. Now, he stated, by then – by July 9 – he’d make offers with all of these nations. At one level, the administration stated, 90 offers in 90 days. Nicely, that did not occur. To date, solely two offers have been introduced – with the U.Ok. and a preliminary cope with Vietnam. So recently, Trump began saying he would ship letters telling nations their charges. However that brings us to at least one different piece of tariff information that occurred in the present day, which is the president is signing an government order pushing that July 9 date out to August 1. So now there’s extra time, theoretically, for Trump to get offers carried out.
KELLY: Nicely – and what’s the White Home saying about why this retains getting kicked down the highway?
KURTZLEBEN: Nicely, right here on the White Home in the present day on the press briefing, a reporter requested about that – if the delay implies that making offers is simply tougher than Trump anticipated. And here is how Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
KAROLINE LEAVITT: No, it is an acknowledgment that this administration is doing what’s finest for the American employee. And we would like the perfect offers attainable for our employees, for our manufacturing base, for our center class. And they’re doing this intentionally and appropriately, on behalf of our nation’s pursuits.
KURTZLEBEN: A giant purpose of Trump’s tariffs is to spice up manufacturing. He instructed the nations that they may keep away from these tariffs if their firms manufacture within the U.S. However economists say, properly, that will not be really easy, and in addition, even when it did work, it might take a number of years to spice up U.S. manufacturing like that. And economists additionally say these tariffs will probably enhance client costs. However getting again to that August 1 deadline, we’ve seen Trump repeatedly make tariff threats, stroll them again. So we may even see tariffs bounce again up, or he would possibly change his thoughts once more.
KELLY: And just some seconds left, Danielle. However that August 1 deadline, it is lower than a month away. What are you waiting for?
KURTZLEBEN: Nicely, we’ll be waiting for the tariff charges on the large U.S. buying and selling companions like Taiwan and India. And in addition, the charges are price watching carefully. To date, these tariffs are near what Trump introduced on April 2, so will he maintain saying excessive tariffs, and can they stick?
KELLY: Thanks, Danielle.
KURTZLEBEN: Thanks.
KELLY: NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben.
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