Donald Trump ordered his sales advisers to offer “reciprocal” prices on American trade partners to retaliate against taxes, prices, regulations and subsidies in a decision that could trigger a world trade war.
A senior White House official said that prices would be imposed on a “country by country” basis after an examination, and starting with the nations with which the United States has the highest trade deficit.
The prices would be issued in “Trump time”, said the manager “that is to say very quickly”. “It should be a question of weeks, or in a few months,” he added.
The memo that Trump has signed described the trade deficit of the United States as a threat to national security in the country, throwing the ground for Trump to make prices without the need to go to the congress.
The managers of the White House said that the administration would use various legal powers to implement the levies, in particular article 301 of the law on trade and the international law on the economic powers of emergency.
