6 months ago
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WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — President Donald Trump challenged U.S. allies Wednesday by expanding tariffs connected each alloy and aluminum imports to 25% arsenic helium vowed to instrumentality backmost wealthiness “stolen” by different countries, drafting speedy retaliation from Europe and Canada.
The Republican president's usage of tariffs to extract concessions from different nations points toward a perchance destructive commercialized warfare and a stark alteration successful America’s attack to planetary leadership. It besides has destabilized the banal marketplace and stoked anxiousness astir an economical downturn.
“The United States of America is going to instrumentality backmost a batch of what was stolen from it by different countries and, frankly, by incompetent U.S. leadership,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “We’re going to instrumentality backmost our wealth, and we’re going to instrumentality backmost a batch of the companies that left.”
Trump removed each exemptions from his 2018 tariffs connected the metals successful summation to expanding the tariffs connected aluminum from 10%. His moves, based connected a February directive, are portion of a broader effort to disrupt and alteration planetary commerce.
He has abstracted tariffs connected Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to besides taxation imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting April 2.
The EU announced its ain countermeasures Wednesday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that arsenic the United States was “applying tariffs worthy 28 cardinal dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worthy 26 cardinal euros,” oregon astir $28 billion. Those measures, which screen not conscionable alloy and aluminum products but besides textiles, location appliances and cultivation goods, are owed to instrumentality effect April 1.
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance says the medication believes it is successful a “very bully place” arsenic it pushes the Kremlin to motion disconnected connected a U.S.-backed connection to intermission the warring with Ukraine for 30 days.
He says U.S. officials volition person conversations with their Russian counterparts by telephone and successful idiosyncratic successful the coming days.
Trump says helium has received immoderate bully feedback connected the proposal. He has offered nary details.
“I’ve gotten immoderate affirmative messages, but a affirmative connection means nothing. This is simply a precise superior situation,” Trump said. “This is simply a concern that could pb to World War III.”
“We’ve gotten fractional of it arsenic a ceasefire,” Trump added. “And if we tin get Russia to stop, past we person a afloat ceasefire. And I deliberation it’ll ne'er spell backmost to war.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
