No sooner had the news of President Donald Trump imposing 10 percent tariffs on the rest of the world reached the public than there was another announcement. On Saturday, Trump announced that he had decided to raise the tariff rate to 15 percent. Both announcements came after the Supreme Court announced on Friday that the president's previous tariff order had been invalidated.
Criticism from several quarters
Criticism of Trump is now coming from several directions.
"To be completely honest, it's a real mess," said Itsunori Onodera, a former defense minister and now chairman of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) tax group.
Advertisement
Although the tariff increase has been presented as a global measure, its effects vary depending on what agreements countries previously had with the US. A compilation by The New York Times shows that, for example, the situation is unchanged for Japan, while Argentina, Colombia and Australia will now face higher tariff rates.
The Australian government has announced that it is now considering "all possible measures." In a statement, the country’s Trade Minister Don Farrell wrote that his government is "working with the embassy in Washington to assess the consequences and has consistently advocated against these unfair tariffs."
Meeting to be held
The EU has previously announced that a meeting of the European Parliament's trade committee will be held on Monday to assess the situation. French Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier said in an interview with the Financial Times that the EU has the "necessary tools" to act against the US.
The French side therefore wants to review various countermeasures, one of which could be the so-called "bazooka." This is described as an anti-coercion instrument that would allow a range of actions against a country considered to be damaging the EU economy.
"We can no longer be naive. We need to use all our tools and not just talk about them," Forissier said in the interview.
