‘Not the act of a friend’: World leaders slam Trump global tariffs
World leaders took aim at Donald Trump’s 10% global tariff plan, saying the ones who will hurt are Americans.
The European Union said it was “let down by our oldest ally.” Australia said it was “not the act of a friend.” China urged Washington to reconsider − and vowed it would retaliate if it didn’t.
President Donald Trump’s self-styled “Liberation Day” riled global trading markets and drew frustrated responses from world leaders Thursday after his administration imposed a 10% minimum tariff on all imports coming into the country and even higher tariffs on the EU bloc and dozens of other top American trading partners.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said Trump’s levies were “a major blow” that will cause rising inflation and higher bills across the globe. Von der Leyen made the remarks in a statement from Uzbekistan, where she’s attending an EU-Central Asia summit. She said the EU was “prepared to respond” to Trump’s sweeping new levies but did not immediately announce countermeasures.
Other nations affected did not immediately take action, but they did issue strongly worded statements that appeared to suggest a global trade war could be imminent.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the measure “totally unwarranted” and not what he would expect from an ally. Italy‘s leader Giorgia Meloni said the tariffs were “wrong.” Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin, known as the Taoiseach, said “We see no justification for this.” China’s ministry of commerce called for Washington to “immediately cancel” the tariffs, warning they “endanger global economic development.”
“Nobody wins in a trade war,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
Trump described the tariffs as a “declaration of economic independence” and argued they will rejuvenate the U.S.’s declining manufacturing sector and lead to more American jobs and domestic economic activity. Economists have expressed alarm over what they could mean for the U.S. and other economies around the world.
“This is a game changer, not only for the U.S. economy but for the global economy. Many countries will likely end up in a recession,” wrote Olu Sonola, the head of U.S. economic research at Fitch Ratings, in a note on Wednesday.
Most economic analysts define a recession as involving at least two consecutive quarters of decline in a country’s economic growth, typically marked by falling, inflation-adjusted wages and higher unemployment.
Trump’s tariffs plan represents a major shift in current U.S. trade policy. It’s not clear how long it will last. Stock markets in Asia and Europe plunged on the news and U.S. stock futures traded sharply lower.
While the plan includes a 10% baseline tariff on goods from all countries that will start on April 5, about 60 nations that Trump described as the “worst offenders” face higher rates that come into effect on April 9.
The EU will face tariffs of 20%; China, 54%; and Japan, 24%. A 25% tariff on all foreign-made cars was also imposed. The White House said the tariffs were necessary to address what it characterizes as unfair trade policies that enable other countries to impose higher levies on U.S. goods than the U.S. does on theirs.
It was not immediately clear how the country-specific tariff rates were calculated by the U.S., but each country’s tariff rate appeared to be connected to its trade deficit with the U.S. Additionally, Trump said that because he’s “kind,” the final tariff number arrived at was then cut in half.
A trade deficit is when a nation’s imports are greater than its exports, meaning it’s buying more from other countries than it’s selling to them. Trump has long complained that many countries are selling far more of their goods to Americans than the U.S. is selling to citizens of the world. He seeks to address that imbalance. Economists predict that the tariffs will lead to higher prices for Americans − at least in the short-term.