Trump's tariff gamble

US President's planned measures will usher in an age of protectionism in America

- Bhagyashree Garekar US Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON - This may be US President Donald Trump's biggest gamble yet.

The US leader looks set to pull the trigger on April 2 to unleash a wall of "reciprocal" tariffs that will usher in an age of protectionism in America.

As the label suggests, the world's largest economy is set to calibrate the duties it levies on imported goods to match the trade barriers erected by other countries against American products.

Or, as Mr Trump has repeatedly said: "What they charge us, we charge them."

He likes to describe the upcoming announcement as "liberation day", when years of other countries "ripping us off" will come to an end.

This action would add to the complex trade scenario emerging under Mr Trump, when not a single week passes without the word "tariff" rolling off the President's tongue.

The measures enacted thus far include a new 20 per cent tariff on China; a 25 per cent tariff on many imports from Canada and Mexico; a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium; a 25 per cent tariff on foreign-made cars, trucks and certain auto parts like engines; and secondary tariffs on any country that buys oil from Venezuela.

The coming tariffs are broader. The administration has been conducting country-by-country assessments, factoring in tariffs as well as non-tariff barriers like subsidies or value-added taxes, besides other practices deemed unfair.

Will the US take a broad, sectoral approach, like tariffs on chips and pharma? Or will there be a more targeted focus on its top trading partners, or those with whom the US has the largest trade deficits? Will some nations be on a "spared list?"

Hundreds of American exporters of items, from uranium to shrimp, have written to the White House in recent weeks to highlight the unfair trade treatment they receive.