President Donald J. Trump announces "Fair and Reciprocal Plan" on trade

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President Donald J. Trump signed a presidential memorandum ordering the development of a comprehensive plan to restore fairness in U.S. trade relations and to combat unreciprocal trade arrangements.

"A FAIR AND RECIPROCAL PLAN":

• The "Fair and Reciprocal Plan" will seek to redress long-standing imbalances in international trade and ensure fairness in all areas.
• The days of America being taken advantage of are over: this plan will put the American worker first, improve our competitiveness in all industries, reduce our trade deficit, and strengthen our economic and national security.

AMERICA WILL NO LONGER TOLERATE UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES: The United States is one of the most open economies in the world, yet our trading partners keep their markets closed to our exports. This lack of reciprocity is unfair and contributes to our large and persistent annual trade deficit.

• There are endless examples of our trading partners not giving reciprocal treatment to the United States.
  • The US tariff on ethanol is only 2.5 %. However, Brazil imposes a duty of 18 % on US ethanol exports. As a result, in 2024, the US will import more than USD 200 million worth of ethanol from Brazil, while the US will export only USD 52 million worth of ethanol to Brazil.
  • The average rate applied in the US to agricultural goods under MFN is 5 %. However, the average MFN duty applied in India is 39 %. India also applies 100% duty on US motorcycles, while we apply only 2.4% duty on Indian motorcycles.
  • The European Union can export all the shellfish it wants to America. However, the EU bans shellfish exports from 48 of our states, even though it has pledged to speed up the approval of shellfish exports in 2020. As a result, in 2023, the United States will import $274 million worth of shellfish from the EU, but will export only $38 million.
  • The EU also imposes a 10% duty on imported cars. However, the US imposes only a 2.5% duty.
  • The 2019 report found that across 132 countries and more than 600,000 product lines, U.S. exporters face higher tariffs in more than two-thirds of cases.
• This lack of reciprocity is one source of the large and persistent annual U.S. trade deficit in goods: closed markets abroad reduce U.S. exports and open markets at home lead to substantial imports, both of which reduce U.S. competitiveness.
  • The United States has run a trade deficit in goods every year since 1975. By 2024, our trade deficit in goods will exceed $1 trillion.
  • Thanks to the expansion of non-reciprocal barriers in the last few years alone, the United States now has an agricultural trade deficit worth approximately $40 billion in 2024.
• Although America has no such thing and only America should have the right to tax American companies, trading partners are passing the bill to American companies for something called the digital services tax.
  • Canada and France use these taxes to collect over $500 million a year each from American companies.
  • In total, these non-reciprocal taxes cost US companies over $2 billion a year.
  • Reciprocal tariffs will restore fairness and prosperity to a distorted system of international trade and prevent Americans from being taken advantage of.

THE ART OF INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT: President Trump continues to fulfill his mandate from the American people to put America first on trade.

• As President Trump stated in his "America First" presidential memorandum on trade policy on his first day in office, trade policy is a vital part of our economic security and national security.
• During his first term, President Trump successfully ended the outdated and unfair NAFTA agreement and replaced it with the historic USMCA, achieving one of the biggest victories for American workers.
• When our national security was threatened by a global oversupply of steel and aluminum, President Trump took swift action to protect America's national security by imposing tariffs on imports of these goods.
• In response to China's intellectual property theft, forced technology transfer and other unreasonable behaviour, President Trump acted decisively to impose tariffs on Chinese imports and used this leverage to reach a historic bilateral economic agreement.

Just last week, President Trump used the tariff lever to force Canada and Mexico to make long-delayed changes to our northern and southern borders, ensuring the safety and security of American citizens.

whitehouse/ gnews.cz - RoZ

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