Tariffs by the US and its Implications

The rhetoric by President Trump, well before his political campaign even began, talked about the imposition of high tariffs across the board for the American trade partners.

- DR APARAAJITA PANDEY

However, the imposition of these harsh tariffs across 150 countries has come as a shock to most nations, analysts, and people. The decline that stock exchanges around the world have experienced after the announcement is an indication of how this has been perceived.

As President Trump announced the tariffs, the word "reciprocal" was used repeatedly. The intent behind these tariffs is being narrated as a step towards balancing the scales and leveling the playing field, mostly with countries that the US had a trade deficit against. There was also a mention about currency manipulation on the part of other countries. These tariffs, according to President Trump, would finally alleviate the grave suffering that the US has been going through for decades. The concept of a trade deficit has been translated to tariffs by the Trump regime. It is important to note, however, that such a translation is extremely simplistic and not necessarily an accurate representation of the US' bilateral trade with a particular country, the value it carries for the US' economy, or even the tariffs levied by that country on exports from the US.

Reciprocal of tariffs could be explained by some long economic equation for some countries that the US has a high trade deficit against. However, the US has a positive balance of trade with about a hundred and fifteen countries mentioned on the list, and they have also been slapped with a 10 percent tariff. This does show that a lot is left to be analyzed and discussed by the US, and with the US when it comes to tariffs.