On Trump’s first day back at the job, as the 47th president of the United States, signed a long list executive orders compared to his first presidency; one being an executive order that increases tariffs against numerous countries.
Tariffs are taxes on foreign imports, mostly imposed by the U.S government on companies who import these goods.
“Tariffs are paid by domestic importers. However, most economists agree that a fair portion of the 25% of tariffs is paid by consumers in the form of a higher price for the goods that are imposed with a tariff “ stated by Minges News
This means that there will be a surge in the cost to import goods that are already influx due to the inflation happening in America. However, tariffs would decrease trade by making it more expensive for the US to import goods from certain countries. Overseas trades will be affected
In addition, there has been an increase in tariffs on Canada and Mexico by 25% that will be implemented on February 1st, 2025. As well as an increase of 30% tariffs on China that will also be implemented on February 1st that will start at 10% and gradually increase over a certain period of time.
The tariffs have a high possibility to affect the American Economy due to the fact that many American consumers rely on imports for manufacturing inputs. In other words it can make American goods less accessible to citizens.
For example, to make an American car, producers need imported steel from China. If producers decide to pay more for the steels or find a more domestic steel, it will be more costly for the consumers. Furthermore, we also rely on China for green technology.
This will further plummet our economy and put a strain on the demand for rare minerals we receive from China as well. Rare minerals are a necessity for military use as it is one of the primary ingredients that we need for warfare.
“The administration plans to soon impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports” stated by New York Times.
As stated in Trump’s previous term he had attempted to impose these high tariffs on China but was not successful due to insufficient funds. Although the U.S economy still has not improved in recent years, his plans on inputting their high tariffs on countries like Canada, Mexico and China are still set to happen soon.
In the last couple weeks Trumps has threatened Columbia with a massive increase of tariffs if they did not oblige with Trump’s deportation plan.
“After a flurry of threats from President Donald Trump that included steep tariffs.Colombia said Sunday evening it had agreed to “all of President Trump’s terms,” including the “unrestricted acceptance” of immigrants who entered the US illegally, after two US military planes carrying deportees were blocked from entering the country.” stated by Rios News
This further exemplifies how Trump’s executive orders to increase tariffs are also being used to threaten other countries to agree with President Trump’s plan. If not they would have been faced with extremely high tariffs being well of 30%.
The tariffs imposed by President Trump on foreign countries is aimed to improve the U.S economy. This executive order was to make foreign goods more expensive and therefore giving American producers an advantage. However, these tariffs have put a strain on trading, globally supply chains, and the U.S economy.
Written By Staff Writer, Cassandra A.