2 weeks Ago By David Richards
President Trump opened his remarks about tariffs saying that his new tariff policies would “make America wealthy again.” He revealed that the U.S.
will impose a 10%, across-the-board tariff on all imports, and even higher rates for other nations. “These tariffs are going to give us growth like you’ve never seen before,” Trump said. He noted that the way for companies to not face tariffs was to make their products in the United States.
Trump said the tariffs are “kind” because he is not directly matching the tariffs other countries impose on the U.S., and most are much lower.
The new plan, unveiled at a Rose Garden event, is a combination of two proposals debated by aides in recent days—universal tariffs or country-by-country rates. Among the Countries he singled out was Australia claiming that we were one of several Countries that will be hit with tariffs due to the export of goods including aluminium and beef. The president singled out beef during his speech, saying tariffs would be imposed on imports starting from “about midnight tonight”.
Donald Trump told US farmers have been “brutalised” by other nations who impose high tariffs on US diary and other animal products. He said the US imported about $US3 billions of Australian beef – but Australia “won’t take any of our beef”. “We’re standing up for our great farmers and ranchers who are brutalised by nations all over the world,” he said.
He announced reciprocal tariffs on countries across the world. “It can’t get any simpler than that,” he said. He announced 25% tariffs on motor vehicles he also called out two US allies with major auto industries, Japan and Korea.
He calls out Toyota by name for selling one million foreign cars in the US. As an example, Trump says the US charges only a 2.4% tariff on motorcycles while India charges 70%, Vietnam charges 75% and others are even higher than that.
Also on his agenda was the question of currency manipulation, IP theft and tax practices are among the complaints during his speech he holds up a US Trade Representative report titled “Foreign Trade Barriers,” which he says is an upsetting read. Holding up another chart he identified the Reciprocal Tariffs charged by Countries Vs what the US charge. Brandishing a big poster board with a table of reciprocal tariffs.
He calls out each country on the list, saying of Taiwan that it “took all of our computers and semiconductor chips.” One of the winners was the UK where reciprocal tariffs was 10% similar the USA. The Trump administration claims that Australia sold $37.
5 billion of goods and services to the US in 2023-24, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Beef was the single biggest commodity at $3.3 billion, while pharmaceuticals accounted for $1.
6 billion. By comparison, Australian imports of US goods and services totalled $88.2 billion among that was US products such as Sonos, Harman Kardon speakers which include JBL products.
Also on that list are US processors and software. Trump said that tech Companies who in the past had invested heavily in China were now turning to invest in the USA. He singled out Apple who claimed was set to invest billions in new US manufacturing plants.
Trump touts several companies that have announced investments in the US, something he hopes there will be more of if his tariff plans work as intended. The president lauded Softbank, Open AI, Oracle, NVIDIA and TSMC. As the speech was being made currencies and rates were reversing as Trump outlined reciprocal tariffs with distributors of CE and appliances sweating on what will happen to the US dollar as it could affect the price of goods in Australia.
More to follow:.
