WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will impose a baseline 10 percent tariff on imports from all countries, with higher tariffs on dozens of other countries that the United States believes have unfair trade practices.
Trump said at a White House Rose Garden event with most of his Cabinet in attendance, “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Politico reported.
The tariffs detailed on Wednesday mark the most significant U.S. protectionist trade action since the 1930s when Congress imposed tariffs on more than 20,000 goods. Trump aims for higher tariffs to encourage manufacturers to produce more in the United States and hopes that American voters will support the potential long-term benefits of increased production despite any short-term effects such as higher prices, Politico said.
“For years, hard-working American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense,” Trump said. “But now it’s our turn to prosper, and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt, and it’ll all happen very quickly.”