Gold bars to be exempt from tariffs, White House clarifies
Investing.com - U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on items from Canada, Mexico and China came into effect just after midnight Eastern time on Tuesday.
The levies, which include a 25% fee on all imports incoming from Mexico and non-energy goods from Canada, were "all set" to go ahead, Trump said on Monday. A 10% surcharge will be collected on Canadian energy as well.
China was also hit by a 10% import duty, on top of an earlier 10% trade tax put into effect in February.
America’s southern and northern neighbors had earlier raced to appease Trump’s call for increased border security to help stem the flow of the illegal drug fentanyl and migrants into the U.S. Concessions offered in February led to a month-long postponement of the duties.
However, Trump said the countries had still not done enough to address his demands, adding that there was "no room left" for a deal to be secured. China had not taken "adequate steps to alleviate the illicit drug crisis" either, Trump said.
Economists and company executives have long argued that the tariffs on Canada and Mexico -- which make up $900 billion in annual U.S. imports -- threaten to upend a deeply-integrated North American economy. Along with China, Canada and Mexico account for more than 40% of total U.S. imports.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would respond to Trump’s tariffs by introducing its own 25% levy on roughly $20 billion in U.S. goods, after previously saying the measures would target specific items like American beer, bourbon, wine, orange juice and home appliances. Should the U.S. levies remain in place for 21 days, another duty on about $86 billion on American goods would be implemented, Trudeau said.
"Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship,” Trudeau said, adding that Americans will end up paying more for items like groceries and gas because of them.
Mexican leader Claudia Sheinbaum has said the country has a "plan B, C, D" to respond to the tariffs, although no moves were immediately announced.
Meanwhile, China has said it would roll out additional 10%-15% tariffs on certain U.S. imports from March 10, calling Trump’s levies "unreasonable and groundless" as well as "harmful to others."
Here’s a look at how analysts on Wall Street are reacting to the tariffs:
Goldman Sachs
"[W]e think they are unlikely to become a permanent feature of U.S. trade policy, though how long they would last is uncertain. We estimate that a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico (10% on Canadian energy) would raise the effective tariff rate by 5.7pp, and core prices by around 0.6%."
"The 10pp hike in the China-focused tariff would raise the U.S. effective tariff rate by 1.2pp, and increase core prices by around 0.1%."
BofA
"Our economists argue that Canada / Mexico tariffs, if enacted, will be temporary, as they are mostly used as a negotiating tool [...]"
Wolfe Research
"How long might Trump be willing to keep these tariffs in place, what might he want to accomplish before changing course, and what level of pain might push him off of this policy? No one knows, certainly not Mexican President Sheinbaum and Canadian PM Trudeau. We assume these tariffs can’t stay in place forever, as this will be much more painful than the China tariffs, both due to the extent of North American interconnection and due to the structure of the tariffs."
Capital Economics
"Markets have predictably reacted badly, since this raises the risk that Trump will also follow through on his threats to impose reciprocal country-specific tariffs soon, including a proposed 25% on imports from the EU, and product-specific tariffs, on not just steel and aluminum, but semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, other industrial metals and agriculture."
Vital Knowledge
"[T]he imposition of Trump’s tariffs (25% on Mexico/Canada and an additional 10% on China) severely undercuts the ’it’s just a negotiating tactic’ happy talk, forcing investors to contemplate a landscape that will be defined by ever-increasing trade wars. Trump is likely to give a forceful endorsement of his pro-tariff agenda during tonight’s State of the Union, and there are a slew of additional trade/tariff-related announcements due out over the next month [...]"