WASHINGTON: Asserting that he likes free trade, but wants fair trade, US President Donald Trump warned that he could impose reciprocal tariff on other countries.
“You know, all of these countries, including the European Union, they charge five times the tariff. They charge five times what we charge for tariffs. I believe in the word ‘reciprocal’. Are you going to charge five times? We’re going to charge five times. That hasn’t been done. No other president ever brought it up. And it’s going to be done now,” Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday.
Describing the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a terrible deal for the United States, Trump said people were starting to see it.
“We lose over USD 100 billion a year with Mexico. We lose many, many, many billions of dollars with Canada. They are (Canada) very restrictive as to taking our agricultural product and other things,” he said.
The United States, Trump said, was negotiating numerous deals, adding, “We’re talking about NAFTA.”
“But I wouldn’t mind seeing a separate deal with Canada, where you have one type of product, so to speak, and a separate deal with Mexico. These are two very difficult countries. It’s been a lousy deal for the United States from day one. We lose a lot of money with Canada, and we lose a fortune with Mexico. It’s not going to happen like that anymore,” he said.
Mexico, the US President said, had taken US car companies, a big percentage of them.
“We can’t do that. And look, the American worker agrees with me. Obviously, the stock market agrees because when you look at what’s going on with the stocks, they’re starting to see I’m right,” he said.
“But if you take the European Union and you see the kind of tariff they charge, and then we don’t, that’s called ‘not fair trade’. I want fair trade. I like free trade, but I want fair trade. At a minimum, I want fair trade. We are going to have it for our workers and for our companies. And you know what? The other side understands it. To be honest, they cannot believe that they’ve gotten away with this for so many decades,” Trump said. PTI
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