President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a range of reciprocal tariffs targeting almost all countries that the United States trades with, taking a sledgehammer to Washington’s longstanding advocacy of free trade and globalisation.
Trump’s latest tariffs, which build on a series of similar steps he has taken since returning to office on January 20, are going to hit the countries with which Washington has large trade deficits, or that impose heavy tariffs on US goods. In 2023, the US imports were worth $1.1 trillion more than its exports; no other country has as large a trade deficit as the US.
