Trump Puts High Tariffs on Imported Solar Products, Washing Machines

Steep tariffs on imports have been signed by President Donald Trump as a first major step to lower imports and motivate the market to use American products.

The first to have been affected by the new tariffs are washing machines and solar energy cells and panels.

This comes a year after Trump was elected, although he had promised to act sooner on the problem, with cheap products coming from China and South Korea. Some White House advisers warned that new trade tariffs can be also applied to imports from China like steel and aluminum.

According to The New York Times, the imposition of tariffs will most likely exacerbate trade tensions with other nations, including China, and could result in an escalation of retaliatory trade measures against imports from the United States.

Both China and South Korea harshly criticised the move, suggesting they could take their complaints to the World Trade Organisation, which settles trade disputes between countries. The decisions also seemed likely to ignite a wave of similar trade cases from other American companies, which might be encouraged by the president’s action.

President Trump’s populist campaign with its signature slogan “America First” gleefully rebuffed the longstanding Republican embrace of free and open markets. Since Trump took office he pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-country trade deal. President Trump also said he was planning a withdrawal from the North American Free Trade Agreement and the imposition of tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.

However, instead of steel and aluminum, Trump firstly acted on washing machines and solar products. The decision to focus on these was a result of requests made by manufacturers who complained that their operations in the United States were being suppressed by imports.

The last time similar tariffs were applied was in 2002 when former President George W. Bush signed a law for imports of steel. At that time The World Trade Organisation ruled against the U.S. and Bush had to withdraw that measure under a threat of retaliation.

Now, the same is happening as China gets mostly affected by Trump’s measures.

“With regard to the wrong measures taken by the United States, China will work with other W.T.O. members to resolutely defend our legitimate interests,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.