Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is warning the globe against retaliation as reports of” Liberation Day” taxes spreads.
” My suggestions to every nation right now is do not retaliate”, he told Fox News shortly after the news. ” Stay up, taking it in, let’s see how it goes. Because if you retaliate, there will be intensification”.
” If you don’t react, this is the high-water mark”, Bessent added.
The long-awaited taxes may be set at 10 % across the board for most locations, plus 50 % of any tax above that the state charges the United States, or what President Donald Trump calls a “discounted mutual tariff”.
For some of the U. S.’s largest buying partners, the taxes will be higher relative to what they’re used to. Tariffs will hit 20 % on the European Union, 24 % on Japan, and 32 % on Taiwan. For China, overall tariff rates will hit 54 %, and Trump also moved to close the so-called de minimis loophole through which that country shipped billions of dollars ‘ worth of small packages, valued at$ 800 or less, to U. S. consumers each year.
Bessent tried to calm nerves by ensuring that the figures would not go any higher, but there’s still a chance that governments will react with levies of their own.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the levies a “major punch to the earth economy”, predicting dire consequences for millions around the globe, particularly the “most prone people”. But she stopped short of announcing retaliatory measures, apparently in hope of negotiating better conditions with Trump.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he hopes for an arrangement for the success of the U. S. and the EU, according to the Associated Press, while United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he hopes to find taxes lifted with a new business offer.
Italy, which has a liberal government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, even spoke out against the taxes.
” We will do everything we can to work towards an arrangement with the United States”, she wrote on Twitter,” with the aim of avoiding a trade conflict that may eventually diminish the West”.
China, which has already made violent remarks about Trump’s business war, said it “firmly opposes” new levies and promised to enact measures.
Canada was one of the few places spared from the new news, yet its prime minister, Mark Carney, responded with strong phrases, calling Trump’s taxes a” issue” and predicting that his country would fight.
” We are going to battle these levies with measures”, he said. ” We are going to protect our employees, and we are going to create the strongest market in the G7. In a crisis, it’s important to come up, and it’s essential to act with intent and with power. And that’s what we will do”.
Liberation Day: Trump unveils mutual taxes, says US will no longer been’ raped’ by trading lovers
The Trump White House is billing the taxes as a gain in spite of foreboding comments from world officials, calling it the climax of a scheme Trump has wished to apply for 40 years.
” President Donald J. Trump made clear to the world that the days of economic surrender are over”, the White House said in a fact sheet. ” After being sold out by career politicians for generations, President Trump is enacting fair trade policies that will restore our workforce, rebuild our economy, and finally put America First”.
