New York: Volley after volley of new tariffs from US President Donald Trump have plunged the country into trade wars abroad, creating uncertainty for businesses and households.
Trump is no stranger to tariffs. He launched a trade war during his first term as well, taking particular aim at China by putting taxes on most of its goods. At the time, Beijing responded with its own retaliatory tariffs on a range of US products. And Trump also used the threat of more tariffs to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate a North American trade pact.
Fast-forward to today, and economists stress there are greater consequences on businesses and economies worldwide under Trump’s more sweeping tariffs this time around — and that higher prices leave consumers footing the bill.
There’s also been a sense of whiplash from Trump’s back-and-forth tariff threats and responding retaliation seen over the last few months.
Here’s a timeline of how we got here:
January 20
Trump is sworn into office. In his inaugural address, he again promises to “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.” And he reiterates plans to create an agency called the External Revenue Service, which has yet to be established.
On his first day in office, Trump also says he expects to put 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting on February 1, while declining to immediately flesh out plans for taxing Chinese imports.
January 26
Trump threatens 25 per cent tariffs on all Colombia imports and other retaliatory measures after President Gustavo Petro’s rejects two US military aircraft carrying migrants to the country, accusing Trump of not treating immigrants with dignity during deportation.
In response, Petro also announces a retaliatory 25 per cent increase in Colombian tariffs on US goods. But Colombia later reversed its decision and accepted the flights carrying migrants. The two countries soon signalled a halt in the trade dispute.
February 1
Trump signs an executive order to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China — 10 per cent on all imports from China and 25 per cent on imports from Mexico and Canada starting February 4. Trump invoked this power by declaring a national emergency — ostensibly over undocumented immigration and drug trafficking.
The action prompts swift outrage from all three countries, with promises of retaliatory measures.
February 3
Trump agrees to a 30-day pause on his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada, as both trading partners take steps to appease Trump’s concerns about border security and drug trafficking.
February 4
Trump’s new 10 per cent tariffs on all Chinese imports to the US still go into effect. China retaliates the same day by announcing a flurry of countermeasures, including new duties on a variety of American goods and an anti-monopoly investigation into Google.
China’s 15 per cent tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas products, and a 10 per cent levy on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the US, take effect February 10.
February 10
Trump announces plans to hike steel and aluminum tariffs starting March 12. He removes the exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel, meaning that all steel imports will be taxed at a minimum of 25 per cent, and also raises his 2018 aluminum tariffs from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.
February 13
Trump announces a plan for “reciprocal” tariffs — promising to increase US tariffs to match the tax rates that countries worldwide charge on imports “for purposes of fairness.”
March 4
Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico go into effect, though he limits the levy to 10 per cent on Canadian energy. He also doubles the tariff on all Chinese imports to 20 per cent.
All three countries promise retaliatory measures. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces tariffs on more than USD 100 billion of American goods over the course of 21 days. And Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says her country would respond with its own retaliatory tariffs on US goods without specifying the targeted products immediately, signalling hopes to de-escalate.
China, meanwhile, imposes tariffs of up to 15 per cent on a wide array of key US farm exports, set to take effect March 10. It also expands the number of US companies subject to export controls and other restrictions by about two dozen.
March 5
Trump grants a one-month exemption on his new tariffs impacting goods from Mexico and Canada for US automakers. The pause arrives after the president spoke with leaders of the “Big 3” automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
March 6
In a wider extension, Trump postpones 25 per cent tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada for a month.
March 10
China’s retaliatory 15 per cent tariffs on key American farm products — including chicken, pork, soybeans and beef — take effect. Goods already in transit are set to be exempt through April 12, per China’s Commerce Ministry previous announcement.
March 12
Trump’s new tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports go into effect. Both metals are now taxed at 25 per cent across the board — with Trump’s order to remove steel exemptions and raise aluminum’s levy from his previously-imposed 2018 import taxes.
The European Union takes retaliatory trade action promising new duties on US industrial and farm products. The measures will cover goods from the United States worth some 26 billion euros (USD 28 billion), and not just steel and aluminum products, but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods. Motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans will be hit, as they were during Trump’s first term. The 27-member bloc later says it will delay this retaliatory action until mid-April.
Canada, meanwhile, announces plans to impose more retaliatory tariffs worth CAD 29.8 billion (USD 20.7 billion) on US imports, set to go into effect March 13.
March 13
Trump threatens a 200 per cent tariff on European wine, Champagne and spirits if the European Union goes forward with its previously-announced plans for a 50 per cent tariff on American whiskey.
March 24
Trump says he will place a 25 per cent tariff on all imports from any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela, in addition to imposing new tariffs on the South American country itself, starting April 2.
March 26
Trump says he is placing 25 per cent tariffs on auto imports. These auto imports will start being collected April 3 — beginning with taxes on fully-imported cars. The tariffs are set to then expand to applicable auto parts in the following weeks, through May 3.
April 2
Trump announces his long-promised “reciprocal” tariffs — declaring a 10 per cent baseline tax on imports across the board starting April 5, as well as higher rates for dozens of nations that run trade surpluses with the US to take effect April 9.
Among those steeper levies, Trump says the US will now charge a 34 per cent tax on imports from China, a 20 per cent tax on imports from the European Union, 25 per cent on South Korea, 24 per cent on Japan and 32 per cent on Taiwan. The new tariffs come on top of previously-imposed levies, including the 20 per cent tax Trump announced on all Chinese imports earlier this year.
April 3
Trump’s previously-announced auto tariffs begin. Prime Minister Mark Carney says that Canada will match the 25 per cent levies with a tariff on vehicles imported from the US.
April 4
China announces plans to impose a 34 per cent tariff on imports of all US products beginning April 10, matching Trump’s new “reciprocal” tariff on Chinese goods, as part of a flurry of retaliatory measures.
The Commerce Ministry in Beijing says it will also impose more export controls on rare earths, which are materials used in high-tech products like computer chips and electric vehicle batteries.
April 5
Trump’s 10 per cent minimum tariff on nearly all countries and territories takes effect.
April 9
Trump’s higher “reciprocal” rates go into effect, hiking taxes on imports from dozens of countries just after midnight. But hours later, his administration says it will suspend most of these higher rates for 90 days, while maintaining the recently-imposed 10 per cent levy on nearly all global imports.
China is the exception. After following through on a threat to raise levies against China to a total of 104 per cent, Trump says he will now raise those import taxes to 125 per cent “effective immediately” — escalating tit-for-tat duties that have piled up between the two countries. The White House later clarifies that total tariffs against China are actually now 145 per cent, once his previous 20 per cent fentanyl tariffs are accounted for.
China upped its retaliation prior to this announcement — vowing to tax American goods at 84 per cent starting April 10. Also earlier, EU member states vote to approve their own retaliatory levies on 20.9 billion euros (USD 23 billion) of US goods in response to Trump’s previously-imposed steel and aluminum tariffs.
Separately, Canada’s counter tariffs on auto imports take effect. The country implements a 25 per cent levy on auto imports from the US that do not comply with the 2020 USMCA pact.
April 10
The EU puts its steel and aluminum tariff retaliation on hold for 90 days, to match Trump’s pause on steeper “reciprocal” levies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the commission wants to give negotiations with the US a chance — but warns countermeasures will kick in if talks “are not satisfactory.”
April 11
China says it will raise tariffs on US goods from 84 per cent to 125 per cent, in response to Trump’s heightened levies. The new rate is set to begin April 12.
Later, the Trump administration unveils that electronics, including smartphones and laptops, will be exempt from so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. But in the days following, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick signals that this is only a temporary reprieve, saying that sector-specific levies on semiconductors will arrive in “probably a month or two.” And other, non-“reciprocal” tariffs that tax some electronics, notably from China, remain.
April 29
Trump signs executive orders to relax some of his 25 per cent tariffs on automobiles and auto parts — aimed at easing import taxes for vehicles that are made with foreign parts, but assembled in the US.
May 3
The latest round of Trump’s auto tariffs takes effect. The previously-announced 25 per cent levies now apply to a range of imported auto parts.
May 4
Trump threatens a 100 per cent tariff on foreign-made films, while claiming that the movie industry in the US is dying.
May 8
The United States and Britain announce a trade deal, potentially lowering the financial burden from tariffs while creating greater access abroad for American goods.
Britain says the deal will cut tariffs on UK cars from 27.5 per cent to 10 per cent, with a quota of 100,000 UK vehicles that can be imported to the US at a 10 per cent tariff. It also eliminate tariffs on steel and aluminum.
May 12
The United States and China agree to roll back most of the tariffs each nation had imposed on the other and declared a 90-day truce in their trade war.
The Trump administration says it will reduce the 145 per cent duties it had imposed on imports from China to 30 per cent, while China says it would cut its 125 per cent tariffs on US goods to 10 per cent.
May 23
Trump threatens a 25 per cent tariff on Apple products unless its iPhones are made in the US — making the tech giant the latest company caught in the crosshairs of the White House’s tariff promises. In response to Trump’s import taxes on China, Apple CEO Tim Cook had previously said that most iPhones solid in the US during the current fiscal quarter would come from India, with iPads and other devices being imported from Vietnam.
The president also moves to escalate his trade war with the EU — threatening to slap a 50 per cent tax on all imports from the 27-nation bloc starting June 1.
May 25
Trump says he’s delaying the 50 per cent tariff on the EU until July 9 to give the two sides more time to negotiate. The agreement came after a call with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
