Tariffs: Donald Trump threatens to impose a 200% surcharge on pharmaceutical products and a 50% surcharge on copper
Donald Trump clarified his new tariff threats on Tuesday, July 8. The US president stated that he was considering imposing a 200% surcharge on pharmaceutical products imported into the United States and a 50% surcharge on copper, with the aim of encouraging factories to be set up on American soil.
"We will soon announce something on pharmaceuticals. We will give people a year, a year and a half, to come here and after that they will have tariffs," the US president told the cabinet meeting. He added that this could reach "something like 200%."
The head of state also stated that he was considering imposing a 50% surcharge on imported copper. "I think we'll set the customs duty on copper at 50%," he said, answering questions from journalists. In the wake of this, the price of this metal soared by more than 10% in New York, surpassing its historic peak.
Copper and pharmaceuticals are among the sectors that Donald Trump had threatened with a tariff, along with semiconductors and construction lumber.
A central axis of its economic policySince returning to the White House in January, the Republican billionaire has made tariffs a central plank of his economic policy: a negotiating lever to obtain concessions from abroad, a means of defending domestic industry, and a source of new government revenue. He has already introduced specific tariffs for certain sectors (50% on steel and aluminum, 25% on automobiles) and a minimum surcharge of 10% on most products entering the United States.
He plans to raise this surcharge starting August 1 to further penalize exports from dozens of countries that have a trade surplus with the United States. "There will be no change of date" and "no extension will be granted," Donald Trump assured Tuesday on his Truth Social platform.
On Monday, he began sending letters to US trading partners, primarily in Asia, to announce their fate. Fourteen countries have now learned the amount of the surcharge he has concocted for them: from +25% (Japan, South Korea, and Tunisia in particular) to +40% (Laos and Burma), including +36% (Cambodia and Thailand).
Among the four non-Asian countries receiving the letter, South Africa is targeted with a 30% surcharge. Its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced in a statement Tuesday that he would "continue diplomatic efforts" with Washington. He is particularly concerned about the impact on local citrus production.
Sanctions in case of retaliationMore letters will be sent "today, tomorrow, and in the coming days," Donald Trump warned on Truth Social. He then said during the cabinet meeting that the European Union (EU) would receive its letter "probably within two days." According to him, the bloc of 27 European countries has been behaving "very nicely" lately.
The initial planned start date for the individualized surcharges was July 9, but Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to postpone it until August 1. He then cast doubt on the reality of this new deadline: "I would say it's firm, but not 100% firm," he told reporters. On Tuesday, he stated that his intention had always been to collect these punitive customs duties on products from countries that export more to the United States than vice versa, starting August 1 .
In his letters, Donald Trump assured that any response would be met with an additional surcharge of the same magnitude. Cambodia said on Tuesday that the fact that the surcharge on it had been reduced since April (from 49% to 36%) was a "great victory," although it hopes to reduce it further.
The World with AFP
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