Since taking office, Trump has announced a broad range of tariffs targeting some of America's biggest trading partners, arguing that they would help tackle unfair practices -- and in some cases using the threats to influence policy.
“Whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them,“ Trump added.
The levies would be tailored to each US trading partner and consider the tariffs they impose on American goods, alongside taxes seen as “discriminatory,“ such as value-added taxes (VATs), a White House official said on condition of anonymity.
Trump's commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said Thursday that studies should be completed by April 1, and the president could start tariffs as early as April 2.
“This should be a matter of weeks, in a few months,“ the official said.
Ahead of Trump's Oval Office comments, Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro told reporters: “Major exporting nations of the world attack our markets with punishing tariffs and even more punishing non-tariff barriers.”
Cost-of-living pressures were a key issue in the November election that saw Trump return to power, and the Republican has promised to swiftly reduce prices.
Trump acknowledged Thursday that US prices “could go up” due to tariffs, but he expressed confidence that they would ultimately ease.
The White House official said the United States has been “treated unfairly,“ saying a lack of reciprocity is a reason behind the country’s “persistent annual trade deficit in goods” which topped $1 trillion last year.
But Sean Bray, policy director of Tax Foundation Europe, noted that the United States might have higher levies on other products, like a 25 percent rate on light truck imports.
Trump's announcement came shortly before he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, and the US president has since said he expected “wonderful trade deals” with India.
Countries like South Korea that have trade deals with Washington are less at risk, analysts believe.
Christine McDaniel, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, told AFP that Trump does not appear constrained by World Trade Organization norms.
“But if countries refuse, and the US raises its tariffs, then it is bad for the US” as American importers will face higher prices, said McDaniel, a former official in George W. Bush’s administration.
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