Tariffs to Hit 15 Percent or More for Some Nations, US Trade Rep Says

And now we have an update on the Trump administration's plans for global tariffs and negotiations with trading partners too. Here's U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer on Fox Business this morning. We expect to have continuity in what we're doing. Even right now we have the 10 percent tariff, it'll go up to 15 for some, and then it may go higher for others. And I think it will be in line with the types of tariffs we've been seeing. We want to have continuity in this program. Now, Greer did not name any specific trading partners who might get the higher tariffs, but the trade representative says the new tariffs are compatible with existing trade deals. On China specifically, he says the Trump administration is aware that China doesn't have the same market economics as the United States. Unprofitable Chinese firms are allowed to stay open and continue producing with government subsidies. Greer says this is tariffs on Chinese goods need to remain in place. I think that over the past year we've come to an agreement with China. They understand we're going to have some level of tariffs. You'll recall last April we both escalated to about 145 percent tariffs. We de-escalated all of that. Since that time we've had anywhere between 35, 40 to 50 percent tariffs on China depending on the product. We expect that level to remain in place. We don't intend to escalate beyond that. We intend to really stick to the deal that we had before. It comes as President Trump is expected to visit China in April. Meanwhile, the trade representative said he spoke with his Canadian counterpart earlier today and said they would meet in Washington in a couple of weeks. Greer said he's open to talk and will see what the Canadian side has to say. He added that the Trump administration will still review the USMCA trade agreement by July 1st of this year.