US President Donald Trump’s widest-ranging tariffs to date took effect Saturday, in a move which could trigger retaliation and escalating trade tensions that could upset the global economy.
A 10 percent “baseline” tariff came into place past midnight, hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada as Trump invoked emergency economic powers to address perceived problems with the country’s trade deficits.
The trade gaps, said the White House, were driven by an “absence of reciprocity” in relationships and other policies like “exorbitant value-added taxes.”
Come April 9, around 60 trading partners — including the European Union, Japan and China — are set to face even higher rates tailored to each economy.
Already, Trump’s sharp 34-percent tariff on Chinese goods, set to kick in next week, triggered Beijing’s announcement of its own 34-percent tariff on US products from April 10.
Beijing also said it would sue the United States at the World Trade Organization and restrict export of rare earth elements used in high-end medical and electronics technology.
But other major trading partners held back as they digested the unfolding international standoff and fears of a recession.
In Manila, the Federation of Free Farmers cautioned the government against complacency and warned the 17 percent tariff imposed by the US on Philippine exports could harm the country’s agricultural sector despite being the second lowest in Southeast Asia, next to Singapore’s 10 percent.
FFF chairman Leonardo Montemayor said even if competing products from other countries become more expensive, Philippine products will still be 17 percent more expensive to American consumers, “who may then opt to stop purchasing our goods and switch to cheaper alternatives.”
He said competing countries might also provide additional support to their producers and exporters to counter the US tariff increase and maintain their competitive edge.
Government data showed $1.37 billion worth of agricultural products entered the US in 2024, primarily consisting of edible fruits and nuts, animal or vegetable fats and oils, tobacco, and seafood.
“In the end, it could be our own farmers who bear the burden of these Trump-era tariffs,” Montemayor said.
Trump’s latest tariffs have notable exclusions. They do not stack on recently-imposed 25-percent tariffs hitting imports of steel, aluminum, and automobiles.
Also temporarily spared are copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber, alongside “certain critical minerals” and energy products, the White House said.
But Trump has ordered investigations into copper and lumber, which could lead to further duties soon.
He has threatened to hit other industries like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as well, meaning any reprieve might be limited.
Trump’s new global levies mark “the most sweeping tariff hike since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, the 1930 law best remembered for triggering a global trade war and deepening the Great Depression,” said the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Oxford Economics estimates the action will push the average effective US tariff rate to 24 percent, “higher even than those seen in the 1930s.” With AFP
