Some of America’s closest allies have already retaliated after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports to 25 per cent.
“The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and, frankly, by incompetent US leadership,” US President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
“We’re going to take back our wealth, and we’re going to take back a lot of the companies that left.”
President Donald Trump has removed the exceptions and exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on steel, meaning that all imports will be taxed at a minimum of 25 per cent. The 2018 aluminium tariffs were increased from 10 per cent to 25 per cent..
Here’s how some of America’s closest allies have responded to the new tariffs.
Prime minister calls on Australians to buy locally
Australia has not retaliated with any tariffs on US imports.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has urged people to buy locally after the US president refused to grant an exemption for Australian steel and aluminium.
The Albanese government does not believe any additional conversation with the Trump administration would have made a difference in the US’ decision to put tariffs on Australia. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Mr Albanese said “revenge” tariffs would simply fuel domestic inflation.
He instead invoked “Team Australia” in a flurry of media interviews in the wake of the White House announcement.
“Australians can have an impact by buying Australian goods,” he told ABC Melbourne.
“Buy Bundy rather than some of the American products … You can make a difference.”
The government has been weighing up how to harness its purchasing power to support local businesses by ensuring more of them can win federal contracts.
Those contracts were worth $100 billion in the last financial year.
Before the 2022 federal election, Labor promised it would introduce new guidelines and streamline application processes to boost the representation of Australian suppliers.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher told Senate estimates in February that progress was expected “very soon”.
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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called the Prime Minister “weak and incompetent”, saying he should have made additional calls and visited Washington to lobby for an exemption.
However, the government does not believe any additional conversations would have made a difference.
It was a view shared by former US ambassador and Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos, and earlier in the week by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull who secured an exemption with the first Trump administration in 2018.
European Union announces US tariffs
The European Union (EU) has announced its own set of tariffs against the US.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said as the US was applying tariffs worth $US28 billion ($44.2 billion), the EU would respond with tariffs to match that value.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU remains open to negotiations with the United States over tariffs. (Reuters: Photo/Stephanie Lecocq)
Those measures, which cover not just steel and aluminium products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods, are due to take effect on April 1.
Ms von der Leyen said prices would go up in Europe and the United States, and jobs were at stake.
“We deeply regret this measure. Tariffs are taxes. They are bad for business, and even worse for consumers,”
Ms von der Leyen said.
In a meeting with Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Mr Trump said he would respond to the EU’s retaliatory tariffs. He also pointed to Ireland as one of the European countries taking advantage of the US.
“The EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Martin said that Ireland and America’s trade relationship was “a two-way street” saying more than 700 Irish companies are based in America, which created thousands of jobs.
“That’s a little known fact that doesn’t turn up in the statistics,” he said.
“I understand where you’re coming from, fully,” Mr Martin said to Mr Trump, “but I think it’s a relationship that we can develop and that will endure into the future.”
The European Union has said it would raise tariffs on American beef, poultry, bourbon, motorcycles, peanut butter and jeans.
EU officials have made clear that the tariffs are aimed at products made in Republican-held states, such as beef and poultry from Kansas and Nebraska and wood products from Alabama and Georgia.
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The tariffs will also hit blue states such as Illinois, which was the number one American producer of soybeans.
Ms Von der Leyen said in a statement that the EU “will always remain open to negotiation.”
Canada imposes additional tariffs in response
Canada — the largest supplier of steel and aluminium to the US — plans to impose retaliatory tariffs of about $US20.7 billion ($32.7 billion) starting on Thursday.
It will place 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on steel products and also raise taxes on a host of items including tools, computers and servers, display monitors, sports equipment, and cast-iron products from the US.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his country believes in free trade but their response was necessary. (AP: Justin Tang)
Canada’s incoming Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was willing to meet with Mr Trump if he showed respect for Canadian sovereignty.
“We don’t want to do this because we believe in open borders and free and fair trade but we are doing this in response,”
Mr Carney said.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said during his second term that Canada should become America’s 51st state.
These retaliatory tariffs are on top of those on $US20.8 billion ($32.8 billion) worth of US goods Canada initially imposed on March 4 in response to broader tariffs from the Trump administration.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said this was now the second round of unjustified US tariffs levelled against Canada.
“The excuse for the first round was exaggerated claims about our border. We addressed all the concerns raised by the US,” Ms Joly said.
“The latest excuse is national security despite the fact that Canada’s steel and aluminium adds to America’s security. All the while there is a threat of further and broader tariffs on April 2 still looming.
“The only constant in this unjustifiable trade war seems to be President Trump’s talk of annexing our country through economic coercion.“
United Kingdom keeping options open on tariffs
The United Kingdom has not announced any tariffs on US imports but has kept open the option of a retaliatory response.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told parliament that his government was taking a “pragmatic approach” but “will keep all options on the table”.
Mr Starmer said negotiations with the Trump administration over a bilateral trade deal were ongoing.
Similar to Australia, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not placed tariffs on the America as his government attempts to work through a trade deal with the US. (Reuters: Carl Court)
He was responding to a question from the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, who said the UK should be taking a “more robust” approach with the US president “like the Europeans and like the Canadians.”
After a meeting last month at the White House, Mr Trump and Mr Starmer said their governments would work on sealing a long-elusive US-UK trade deal.
The tariffs are a new blow for Britain’s once-mighty steel industry, which has shrunk dramatically from its 1970s peak and now accounts for 0.1 per cent of the economy.
Britain’s biggest union Unite said without pushing for an immediate retaliatory response, the government should use UK-produced steel in taxpayer-funded projects.
The union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said it was a matter of national security.
“Our government must act decisively to protect the steel industry and its workers following the announcement of US tariffs,”
Ms Graham said.
ABC/Wires
