Trump Holds Off on Tariffs, but Paves the Way for Future Trade Action
President Trump will stop short of immediately imposing tariffs on imported products on Monday, but will issue an executive order directing federal agencies to begin studying a broad list of trade issues that could ultimately result in taxes on goods from China, Canada, Mexico and other countries in the coming months.The decision suggests that Mr.Trump is taking a more measured approach to fulfilling a key campaign promise of using tariffs to reorder America’s trading relationships.
It will also delay — at least for now — fights that have been brewing with foreign governments, which have promised to answer Mr.Trump’s levies with tariffs of their own.The topics Mr.
Trump will direct his officials to investigate in an executive order Monday will be extensive, including trade deficits and trade deals signed with China, Canada and Mexico.That could tee up the ability of the president to deploy tariffs on numerous targets for many different reasons, potentially scrambling international supply chains and spawning global trade wars in the weeks and months to come.The executive order will direct federal agencies to examine unfair trade and currency practices and to assess whether foreign governments have complied with terms of the two trade deals Mr.
Trump signed in his first presidency.It will also require the government to assess the feasibility of creating an “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs and dutiesMr.
Trump is also ordering a study of tariffs that the United States has imposed for national security reasons, as well as the use of a special trade exemption, called de minimis, that allows low-value goods to come into the United States tariff free.That loophole has allowed large volumes of Chinese goods to escape the tariffs Mr.
Trump slapped on China during his first term.The details of the executive order were earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.While Mr.
Trump has decided to hold off on tariffs for now, his advisers say he remain...