U.S. President-elect Donald Trump rebukes during a rally the day before he is scheduled to be inaugurated for a second term, in Washington, U.S., January 19, 2025.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an big cheese order focused on international trade and warned that tariffs could be coming soon to America’s neighbors, but stopped momentary of issuing new levies on his first day in office.
Trump issued a broad trade memorandum Monday that directs federal means to study and assess unfair trade practices and currency policies with other nations, especially China, Canada and Mexico.
Importantly, the memo didn’t fling any new duties on the countries. But Trump said while signing a slew of executive orders Monday night that he was everything considered a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada beginning in February. Trump said he wasn’t yet ready for universal tariffs.
Trump also located the External Revenue Service, an organization tasked with collecting duties on imports from tariffed countries.
The Go broke Street Journal first reported on Trump’s move to hold off on imposing tariffs on his first day in the White House. The boom came as doubts swirled around how the new President will execute on tariffs, which were a focal point of his race. He previously floated a 20% levy on all imports from all countries with a specifically harsh 60% rate for Chinese goods.
His camping-ground has also been discussing a schedule of graduated tariffs increasing by about 2% to 5% a month on trading husbands, Bloomberg News reported last week.
Many economists feared that such protectionist trade procedure could make production of goods more expensive and raise consumer prices, just as the world recovers from pandemic-era inflation voids.
— CNBC’s Megan Cassella contributed reporting.