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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Business
Greg Jericho

Trump’s latest tariff bid shows the old rules of trade no longer apply. Scraps of paper will not save us

A roll of red-hot steel at a steelworks
‘This of course is a movie we’ve all seen before,’ writes Greg Jericho. ‘Trump put the same tariffs on back in 2018, and Australia at the time was able to get an exemption.’ Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

News that the US president, Donald Trump, was going to place a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminium imports in to the US came as it generally does with such things – out of the blue, with no reasoning, and little to no understanding of whether Trump even knows what he is doing.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on the way to the Super Bowl, Trump talked about “reciprocal” tariffs. As an aside he said that “we’ll also be announcing steel tariffs on Monday” and when asked who they would affect he said “everyone”. When further asked about aluminium he replied “aluminium too” (because hey why bother to mention that upfront?).

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