Washington: President Donald Trump has pledged to impose tariffs on nations that "harm" the United States, highlighting China, India, and Brazil as major high-tariff countries.
During a speech at a Florida retreat with House Republicans, Trump stated: “We’re going to put tariffs on outside countries and outside people that really mean harm to us. Well, they mean us harm, but they basically want to make their country good.”
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He specifically called out China, India, and Brazil for their high tariffs and vowed that the US would not allow this to continue. “China is a tremendous tariff maker, and India and Brazil and so many other countries. So we're not going to let that happen any longer because we're going to put America first,” he added.
Trump outlined his plan for creating a "very fair system" where the US will generate revenue, promising that America will become “very rich again” and that the process will happen "very quickly." He also emphasised the need for the US to return to the economic model that had previously made the nation “richer and more powerful than ever before."
Taxing foreign nations to benefit American citizens
Trump took the opportunity to reinforce his America First policy, stating, “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich foreign nations, we should be tariffing and taxing foreign nations to enrich our citizens.” He added that under this model, as tariffs on other countries rise, taxes on American workers and businesses will fall, leading to “massive numbers of jobs and factories” returning to the US.
Earlier, Trump had suggested imposing “100 per cent tariffs” on the BRICS nations, which includes India. He encouraged companies to establish manufacturing units in the US to avoid the new tariffs. “If you want to stop paying the taxes or the tariffs, you have to build your plant right here in America,” he said.
Trump promised that the incentive to build in America would be so strong that it would lead to record levels of domestic production. “We’re going to have more plants built in the next short period of time than anybody ever envisioned before because the incentive is going to be there,” he said.
Support for key industries
The president confirmed that his administration would provide support for the growth of industries like pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and steel in the US. He also mentioned placing tariffs on critical materials like steel, aluminium, and copper, which are essential for the US military.
“We have to bring production back to our country,” Trump said, reflecting on how America had once produced ships at a rate of one per day. “There was a time when we made one ship a day, and now we can't build a ship,” he lamented. He stressed that much of the production had moved overseas, leaving the US less competitive.
Trump also discussed the potential to tap into the US's rich rare earth mineral reserves. “We have some of the best rare earth anywhere in the world, but we're not allowed to use it because the environmentalists got there first,” he said. His administration plans to "free up" these resources to bring production back to the US, helping to boost the nation's economic strength.
Agency
Published: 28 Jan 2025, 09:25 am IST
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