United States (US) president Donald Trump announced tariffs on almost all of his trading partners on Wednesday (2 April) at the White House in Washington DC — with countries in ASEAN among some of the most affected.
According to the Associated Press, Singapore is not exempt as it will be hit with a 10% tariff.
Source: ABC News
In several charts shared at the event, as well as on social media, Trump compared tariffs supposedly imposed on the US to America’s new “discounted reciprocal tariffs” for these countries.
The president said the tariffs will help his effort to bring fairness to global trade as well as revenue for the US government.
He alleged that the US has been “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered” by other countries after helping to build a global trade system.
Trump said the United States will impose a 10% baseline import tax on all countries to deal with what he calls an economic emergency.
The President targeted countries that exports more to the United States than it imports.
The tariffs were calculated to equalise the trade imbalance, which Trump then halved in an act he described as “very kind”.
“We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us,” he said.
Source: Truth Social
While Singapore is hit with a 10% rate, its ASEAN neighbours are hit with some of the highest rates announced.
According to charts posted on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump is hitting Cambodia with 49% tariff.
Vietnam faces a 46% tariff, Myanmar 44%, Thailand 36%, and Indonesia 32%.
Earlier this year, Trump imposed tariffs on Mexico and Canada to combat illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
Trump’s tariffs have pushed new alliances to form. In preparation for the tariffs, Chinese state media said that China, Japan, and South Korea will jointly respond to them.
News of the sweeping tariffs come after his shocking press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month.
Trump’s behaviour towards Zelenskyy prompted European leaders to express solidarity with their Ukrainian counterpart.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief further said that the “free world needs a new leader”.
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Featured image adapted from ABC News.
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