President Donald Trump on Sunday predicted Cuba’s government could soon collapse
and threatened Colombia’s president, a stark warning that underscored his
administration’s increasingly aggressive posture toward leftist governments
across Latin America.
For good measure, he reiterated his desire to annex Greenland, as well.
The comments made aboard Air Force One as the president returned to Washington
came less than 48 hours after the American military conducted a brazen raid
inside Caracas to arrest and detain Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his
wife.
“Cuba looks like it’s ready to fall,” Trump said. I don’t know if they’re going
to hold out.”
The president waved off the possibility that the administration might use
American forces to hasten the Cuban government’s demise, explaining that
Venezuela was Cuba’s primary economic backer.
“Cuba only survives because of Venezuela,” Trump said.
Many presidents have predicted the communist government’s fall and Havana
survived the collapse of the USSR. And yet Trump’s remarks highlighted the
extent to which his administration is not only expecting regime change in
multiple countries but openly hoping for it, even amid uncertainty about the
future of Venezuela.
“Don’t ask me about who’s in charge [of Venezuela] because it will be
controversial,” Trump said. “We’re in charge.”
Trump said he wants to rebuild the country — particularly its oil infrastructure
— before having an election so the people can elect their own leader. Commerce
Secretary Howard Lutnick implied that steel and aluminum industries could be
revived for U.S. benefit as well. For now, he said, he is willing to work with
Delcy Rodriguez, the acting president and Maduro’s vice president.
Trump said he expects Rodriguez and the new Venezuelan government will allow the
U.S. unfettered access to their country so that American forces can help
rebuild.
But, he added, “if they don’t behave, we will do a second strike.”
The administration maintains that targeting Maduro was, in large part, an effort
to stop the drug trade. Trump also threatened Colombia President Gustavo Petro,
a vocal critic of the U.S. operation in Venezuela.
“Colombia is very sick too — run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and
sending it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long,”
Trump said.
And just hours after the Danish Prime Minister blasted Trump for threatening to
annex Greenland, the president said the United States “needs” the autonomous
Danish territory.
“We need Greenland from a national security situation,” Trump said. “The EU
needs us to have Greenland.”
Tag - Aluminum
Donald Trump started his second term by calling the European Union an “atrocity”
on trade. He said it was created to “screw” Americans.
As he imposed the highest tariffs in a century, he derided Europe as “pathetic.”
And to round off the year, he slammed the continent as “weak” and “decaying.”
In the midst of all this, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s top official, somehow
summoned the composure to fly to Trump’s Scottish golf resort to smile and shake
hands on a one-sided trade deal that will inflict untold pain on European
exporters. She even managed a thumbs up in the family photo with Trump
afterwards.
Yes, it’s been one hell of a year for the world’s biggest trading relationship.
The economic consequences will take years to materialize — but the short-term
impact is manifest: in forcing Europe to face up to its overreliance on the U.S.
security umbrella and find new friends to trade with.
With a warning that the following might trigger flashbacks, we take you through
POLITICO’s coverage of Europe’s traumatic trade year at the hands of Trump:
JANUARY
As Trump returns to the White House, we explore how America’s trading partners
are wargaming his trade threats. The big idea? Escalate to de-escalate. It’s a
playbook we later saw unfold in Trump’s clashes with China and Canada. But, in
the event, the EU never dares to escalate.
Trump’s return does galvanize the EU into advancing trade deals with other
partners — like Mexico or Latin America’s Mercosur bloc. “Europe will keep
seeking cooperation — not only with our long-time like-minded friends, but with
any country we share interests with,” von der Leyen tells the World Economic
Forum the day after Trump is sworn in.
FEBRUARY
As Trump announces that he will reimpose steel and aluminum tariffs, von der
Leyen vows a “firm and proportionate response.” The bloc has strengthened its
trade defenses since his first term, and needs to be ready to activate them,
advises former top Commission trade official Jean-Luc Demarty: “Especially with
a personality like Trump, if we don’t react, he’ll trample us.”
That begs the question as to whether trade wars are as easy to win, as Trump
likes to say. The short answer is, of course, “no.” Trade Commissioner Maroš
Šefčovič, meanwhile, packs a suitcase full of concessions on his first mission
to Washington.
At the end of the month, Brussels threatens to use its trade “bazooka” — a
trade-defense weapon called the Anti-Coercion Instrument — after Trump says the
European Union was created to “screw” America.
MARCH
We called it early with this cover story by Nicholas Vinocur and Camille Gijs:
Trump wants to destroy the EU — and rebuild it in his image.
As Trump’s steel tariffs enter force, Brussels announces retaliatory measures
that far exceed those it imposed in his first term. And, as he builds up to his
“Liberation Day” tariff announcement, the EU signals retaliation extending
beyond goods to services such as tech and banking. (None of these are
implemented.)
APRIL
“They rip us off. It’s so sad to see. It’s so pathetic,” Trump taunts the EU as
he throws it into the sin bin along with China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. In his
Liberation Day announcement in the White House Rose Garden, Trump whacks the EU
with a 20 percent “reciprocal” tariff.
Von der Leyen’s response the next morning is weak: She says only that the EU is
“prepared to respond.” That’s because, even though the EU has strengthened its
trade armory, its 27 member countries can’t agree to deploy it.
The bloc nonetheless busies itself with drawing up a retaliation list of goods
made in states run by Trump’s Republican allies — including trucks, cigarettes
and ice cream.
MAY
The EU’s hit list gets longer in response to Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs
— with planes and automobiles targeted in a €100 billion counterstrike that
looks scary on paper but is never acted on.
We report exclusively that Brussels is ramping up contacts with a Pacific trade
group called the CPTPP. And we assess the chances of Trump pressuring the EU
into a big, beautiful trade deal by threatening to raise duties on European
exports to 50 percent. The verdict? Dream on!
JUNE
The setting shifts to the Canadian Rockies — where a G7 summit takes on a G6 vs.
Trump dynamic as other leaders seek ways to cooperate with him on Russia and
China even as he pummels them with tariffs. Von der Leyen tries her best,
turning hawkish on China in a bid to find common ground.
Back in Brussels, at a European leaders’ summit, von der Leyen announces her
pivot to Asia — floating the idea of a world trade club without the U.S.
JULY
As the clock counts down to Trump’s July 9 deal deadline, the lack of unity
among the EU’s 27 member countries undermines its credibility as a negotiating
partner to be reckoned with. There’s still hope that the EU can lock in a 10
percent tariff, but should it take the deal or leave it?
The deadline slips and, as talks drag on, it looks more likely that the EU will
end up with a 15 percent baseline tariff — far higher than Europe had feared at
the start of Trump’s term. Brussels is still talking about retaliation but …
yeah … you already know that won’t happen.
With Trump in Scotland for a golfing weekend, von der Leyen jets in to shake
hands on a historic, but one-sided trade deal at his Turnberry resort. Koen
Verhelst also flies in to get the big story. “It was heavy lifting we had to
do,” von der Leyen said, stressing that the 15 percent tariff would be a
ceiling.
AUGUST
Despite the thumbs-up in Turnberry, recriminations soon fly that the EU has
accepted a bad deal. EU leaders defend it as the best they could get, given
Europe’s reliance on the U.S. to guarantee its security. The two sides come out
with a joint statement spelling out the terms — POLITICO breaks it down.
Not only does the EU come off worse in the Turnberry deal, but it also
sacrifices its long-term commitment to rules-based trade in return for Trump’s
uncertain support for Ukraine. The realization slowly dawns that Europe’s
humiliation could be profound and long-lasting.
With the ink barely dry on the accord, Trump takes aim at digital taxes and
regulation that he views as discriminatory. It’s a blast that is clearly aimed
at Brussels.
SEPTEMBER
The torrent of trade news slows — allowing Antonia Zimmermann to travel to
Ireland’s “Viagra Village” to report how Trump’s drive to reshore drug
production threatens Europe’s top pharmaceuticals exporter.
OCTOBER
EU leaders resist Trump’s pressure to tear up the bloc’s business rules, instead
trying to present a red tape-cutting drive pushed by von der Leyen as a
self-generated reform that has the fringe benefit of addressing U.S.
concerns.
NOVEMBER
Attention shifts to Washington as the U.S. Supreme Court hears challenges to
Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The justices are skeptical of his invocation of
emergency powers to justify them. Even Trump appointees on the bench subject his
lawyer to tough questioning.
A row flares on the first visit to Brussels by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard
Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Lutnick presses for concessions
on EU digital regulation in exchange for possible tariff relief on steel.
“Blackmail,” is the counterblast from Teresa Ribera, the EU’s top competition
regulator.
DECEMBER
The year ends as it started, with another Trump broadside against Europe and its
leaders.
“I think they’re weak,” he tells POLITICO. “They don’t know what to do on trade,
either.”
President Donald Trump promised that a wave of emergency tariffs on nearly every
nation would restore “fair” trade and jump-start the economy.
Eight months later, half of U.S. imports are avoiding those tariffs.
“To all of the foreign presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, ambassadors,
and everyone else who will soon be calling to ask for exemptions from these
tariffs,” Trump said in April when he rolled out global tariffs based on the
United States’ trade deficits with other countries, “I say, terminate your own
tariffs, drop your barriers, don’t manipulate your currencies.”
But in the time since the president gave that Rose Garden speech announcing the
highest tariffs in a century, enormous holes have appeared. Carveouts for
specific products, trade deals with major allies and conflicting import
duties have let more than half of all imports escape his sweeping emergency
tariffs.
Some $1.6 trillion in annual imports are subject to the tariffs, while at least
$1.7 trillion are excluded, either because they are duty-free or subject to
another tariff, according to a POLITICO analysis based on last year’s import
data. The exemptions on thousands of goods could undercut Trump’s effort to
protect American manufacturing, shrink the trade deficit and raise new revenue
to fund his domestic agenda.
In September, the White House exempted hundreds of goods, including critical
minerals and industrial materials, totaling nearly $280 billion worth of annual
imports. Then in November, the administration exempted $252 billion worth
of mostly agricultural imports like beef, coffee and bananas, some of which are
not widely produced in the U.S. — just after cost-of-living issues became a
major talking point out of Democratic electoral victories — on top of the
hundreds of other carveouts.
“The administration, for most of this year, spent a lot of time saying tariffs
are a way to offload taxes onto foreigners,” said Ed Gresser, a former assistant
U.S. trade representative under Democratic and Republican administrations,
including Trump’s first term, who now works at the Progressive Policy Institute,
a D.C.-based think tank. “I think that becomes very hard to continue arguing
when you then say, ‘But we are going to get rid of tariffs on coffee and beef,
and that will bring prices down.’ … It’s a big retreat in principle.”
The Trump administration has argued that higher tariffs would rebalance the
United States’ trade deficits with many of its major trading partners, which
Trump blames for the “hollowing out” of U.S. manufacturing in what he evoked as
a “national emergency.” Before the Supreme Court, the administration is
defending the president’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic
Powers Act to enact the tariffs, and Trump has said that a potential
court-ordered end to the emergency tariffs would be “country-threatening.”
In an interview with POLITICO on Monday, Trump said he was open to adding even
more exemptions to tariffs. He downplayed the existing carveouts as “very small”
and “not a big deal,” and said he plans to pair them with tariff increases
elsewhere.
Responding to POLITICO’s analysis, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said,
“The Trump administration is implementing a nuanced and nimble tariff agenda to
address our historic trade deficit and safeguard our national security. This
agenda has already resulted in trillions in investments to make and hire in
America along with over a dozen trade deals with some of America’s most
important trade partners.”
To date, the majority of exemptions to the “reciprocal” tariffs — the minimum 10
percent levies on most countries — have been for reasons other than new trade
deals, according to POLITICO’s analysis.
The White House also pushed back against the notion that November’s cuts were
made in an effort to reduce food prices, saying that the exemptions were first
outlined in the September order. The U.S. granted subsequent blanket exemptions,
regardless of the status of countries’ trade negotiations with the Trump
administration, after announcing several trade deals.
Following the exemptions on agricultural tariffs, Trump announced on Monday a
$12 billion relief aid package for farmers hurt by tariffs and rising production
costs. The money will come from an Agriculture Department fund, though the
president said it was paid for by revenue from tariffs (by law, Congress would
need to approve spending the money that tariffs bring in).
In addition to the exemptions from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, more than $300
billion of imports are also exempted as part of trade deals the administration
has negotiated in recent months, including with the European Union, the United
Kingdom, Japan and more recently, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brazil. The deal with
Brazil removed a range of products from a cumulative tariff of 50 percent,
making two-thirds of imports from the country free from emergency tariffs.
For Canadian and Mexican goods, Trump imposed tariffs under a separate emergency
justification over fentanyl trafficking and undocumented migrants. But about
half of imports from Mexico and nearly 40 percent of those from Canada will not
face tariffs because of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement that Trump
negotiated in his first term. Last year, importers claimed USMCA exemptions on
$405 billion in goods; that value is expected to increase, given that the two
countries are facing high tariffs for the first time in several years.
The Trump administration has also exempted several products — including autos,
steel and aluminum — from the emergency reciprocal tariffs because they already
face duties under Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act of 1962. The
imports covered by those tariffs could total up to $900 billion annually, some
of which may also be exempt under USMCA. The White House is considering using
the law to justify further tariffs on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and
several other industries.
For now, the emergency tariffs remain in place as the Supreme Court weighs
whether Trump exceeded his authority in imposing them. In May, the U.S. Court of
International Trade ruled that Trump’s use of emergency authority was unlawful —
a decision the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld in August. During oral arguments on
Nov. 5, several Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism that the emergency
statute authorizes a president to levy tariffs, a power constitutionally
assigned to Congress.
As the rates of tariffs and their subsequent exemptions are quickly added and
amended, businesses are struggling to keep pace, said Sabine Altendorf, an
economist with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
“When there’s uncertainty and rapid changes, it makes operations very
difficult,” Altendorf said. “Especially for agricultural products where growing
times and planting times are involved, it’s very important for market actors to
be able to plan ahead.”
ABOUT THE DATA
Trump’s trade policy is not a straightforward, one-size-fits-all approach,
despite the blanket tariffs on most countries of the world. POLITICO used 2024
import data to estimate the value of goods subject to each tariff, accounting
for the stacking rules outlined below.
Under Trump’s current system, some tariffs can “stack” — meaning a product can
face more than one tariff if multiple trade actions apply to it. Section 232
tariffs cover automobiles, automobile parts, products made of steel and
aluminum, copper and lumber — and are applied in that order of priority. Section
232 tariffs as a whole then take priority over other emergency tariffs. We
applied this stacking priority order to all imports to ensure no
double-counting.
To calculate the total exclusions, we did not count the value of products
containing steel, aluminum and copper, since the tariff would apply only to the
known portion of the import’s metal contentand not the total import value of all
products containing them. This makes the $1.7 trillion in exclusions a minimum
estimate.
Goods from Canada and Mexico imported under USMCA face no tariffs. Some of these
products fall under a Section 232 category and may be charged applicable tariffs
for the non-USMCA portion of the import. To claim exemptions under USMCA,
importers must indicate the percentage of the product made or assembled in
Canada or Mexico.
Because detailed commodity-level data on which imports qualify for USMCA is not
available, POLITICO’s analysis estimated the amount that would be excluded from
tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports by applying each country’s USMCA-exempt
share to its non-Section 232 import value. For instance, 38 percent of Canada’s
total imports qualified for USMCA. The non-Section 232 imports from Canada
totaled around $320 billion, so we used only $121 billion towards our
calculation of total goods excluded from Trump’s emergency tariffs.
Exemptions from trade deals included those with the European Union, the United
Kingdom, Japan, Brazil, Cambodia and Malaysia. They do not include “frameworks”
for agreements announced by the administration. Exemptions were calculated in
chronological order of when the deals were announced. Imports already exempted
in previous orders were not counted again, even if they appeared on subsequent
exemption lists.
LONDON — The British government is working to give its trade chief new powers to
move faster in imposing higher tariffs on imports, as it faces pressure from
Brussels and Washington to combat Chinese industrial overcapacity.
Under new rules drawn up by British officials, Trade Secretary Peter Kyle will
have the power to direct the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) to launch
investigations and give ministers options to set higher duty levels to protect
domestic businesses.
The trade watchdog will be required to set out the results of anti-dumping and
anti-subsidy investigations within a year, better monitor trade distortions and
streamline processes for businesses to prompt trade probes.
The U.K. is in negotiations with the U.S. and the EU to forge a steel alliance
to counter Chinese overcapacity as the bloc works to introduce its own updated
safeguards regime. The EU is the U.K.’s largest market and Brussels is creating
a new steel protection regime that is set to slash Britain’s tariff-free export
quotas and place 50 percent duties on any in excess.
The government said its directive to the TRA will align the U.K. with similar
powers in the EU and Australia, and follow World Trade Organization rules. It is
set out in a Strategic Steer to the watchdog and will be introduced as part of
the finance bill due to be wrapped up in the spring.
“We are strengthening the U.K.’s system for tackling unfair trade to give our
producers and manufacturers — especially SMEs who have less capacity and
capability — the backing they need to grow and compete,” Business and Trade
Secretary Peter Kyle said in a statement.
“By streamlining processes and aligning our framework with international peers,
we are ensuring U.K. industry has the tools to protect jobs, attract investment
and thrive in a changing global economy,” Kyle added.
These moves come after the government said on Wednesday that its Steel Strategy,
which plots the future of the industry in Britain and new trade protections for
the sector, will be delayed until next year.
The Trump administration has been concerned about the U.K.’s steps to counter
China’s steel overcapacity and refused to lower further a 25 percent tariff
carve-out for Britain’s steel and aluminum exports from the White House’s 50
percent global duties on the metals. Trade Secretary Kyle discussed lowering the
Trump administration’s tariffs on U.K. steel with senior U.S. Cabinet members in
Washington on Wednesday.
“We are very much on the case of trying to sort out precisely where we land with
the EU safeguard,” Trade Minister Chris Bryant told parliament Thursday, after
meeting with EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič on Wednesday for negotiations.
“We will do everything we can to make sure that we have a strong and prosperous
steel sector across the whole of the U.K.,” Bryant said.
The TRA has also launched a new public-facing Import Trends Monitor tool to help
firms detect surges in imports that could harm their business and provide
evidence that could prompt an investigation by the watchdog.
“We welcome the government’s strategic steer, which marks a significant
milestone in our shared goal to make the U.K.’s trade remedies regime more
agile, accessible and assertive, as well as providing greater accountability,”
said the TRA’s Co-Chief Executives Jessica Blakely and Carmen Suarez.
Sophie Inge and Jon Stone contributed reporting.
The European Commission has lost access to its control panel for buying and
tracking ads on Elon Musk’s X — after fining the social media platform €120
million for violating EU transparency rules.
“Your ad account has been terminated,” X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, wrote
on the platform early Sunday.
Bier accused the EU executive of trying to amplify its own social media post
about the fine on X by trying “to take advantage of an exploit in our Ad
Composer — to post a link that deceives users into thinking it’s a video and to
artificially increase its reach.”
The Commission fined X on Thursday for breaching the EU’s rules under the
Digital Services Act (DSA), which aims to limit the spread of illegal content.
The breaches included a lack of transparency around X’s advertising library and
the company’s decision to change its trademark blue checkmark from a means of
verification to a “deceptive” paid feature.
“The irony of your announcement,” Bier said. “X believes everyone should have an
equal voice on our platform. However, it seems you believe that the rules should
not apply to your account.”
Trump administration has criticized the DSA and the Digital Markets Act, which
prevent large online platforms, such as Google, Amazon and Meta, from
overextending their online empires.
The White House has accused the rules of discriminating against U.S. companies,
and the fine will likely amplify transatlantic trade tensions. U.S. Secretary of
Commerce Howard Lutnick has already threatened to keep 50 percent tariffs on
European exports of steel and aluminum unless the EU loosens its digital rules.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance blasted Brussels’ action, describing the fine as a
response for “not engaging in censorship” — a notion the Commission has
dismissed.
“The DSA is having not to do with censorship,” said the EU’s tech czar, Henna
Virkkunen, told reporters on Thursday. “This decision is about the transparency
of X.”
BRUSSELS — U. S. Vice President JD Vance has hit out at the EU’s digital rules
enforcement, saying the EU should not be “attacking American companies over
garbage.”
“Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of
dollars for not engaging in censorship. The EU should be supporting free speech
not attacking American companies over garbage,” Vance wrote on X overnight.
X owner Elon Musk immediately thanked the U.S. official, commenting, “Much
appreciated.”
The European Commission opened formal proceedings against X under its Digital
Services Act in December 2023, roughly a year after Musk bought Twitter and
rebranded it as X.
But the EU has yet to finalize its probe, after accusing X of breaching its
obligations around transparency and blue checkmarks in preliminary findings in
July 2024. A decision could come as early as Friday, according to media
reports Thursday.
Under the EU rules, companies can be fined up to 6 percent of their annual
global turnover.
French President Emmanuel Macron last week voiced concerns about the slow pace
of Brussels’ probes into American tech giants, adding to a growing chorus of
criticism that the bloc has been too slow to enforce its flagship Digital
Services Act amid U.S. pressure.
Washington has repeatedly asked the EU to roll back its digital rule book as
part of trade negotiations, and last week U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard
Lutnick put this on the table again as an explicit exchange for scrapping
tariffs on steel and aluminum in ongoing talks.
Asked earlier Thursday how she feels about a looming diplomatic showdown if she
slaps a fine on a U.S. tech giant, Commission digital chief Henna Virkkunen told
POLITICO: “I’m quite calm in different situations. I’m not surprised about
anything. I’m protecting our laws. But at the same time we are going to make
Europe faster and simpler and easier for businesses.”
Asked if she’s afraid of the U.S.’s reaction to a fine under the DSA, Virkkunen
responded with a single word: “No.”
BRUSSELS — Europe’s most energy-intensive industries are worried the European
Union’s carbon border tax will go too soft on heavily polluting goods imported
from China, Brazil and the United States — undermining the whole purpose of the
measure.
From the start of next year, Brussels will charge a fee on goods like cement,
iron, steel, aluminum and fertilizer imported from countries with weaker
emissions standards than the EU’s.
The point of the law, known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, is to
make sure dirtier imports don’t have an unfair advantage over EU-made products,
which are charged around €80 for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit.
One of the main conundrums for the EU is how to calculate the carbon footprint
of imports when the producers don’t give precise emissions data. According to
draft EU laws obtained by POLITICO, the European Commission is considering using
default formulas that EU companies say are far too generous.
Two documents in particular have raised eyebrows. One contains draft benchmarks
to assess the carbon footprint of imported CBAM goods, while the second — an
Excel sheet seen by POLITICO — shows default CO2 emissions values for the
production of these products in foreign countries. These documents are still
subject to change.
National experts from EU countries discussed the controversial texts last
Wednesday during a closed-door meeting, and asked the Commission to rework them
before they can be adopted. That’s expected to happen over the next few weeks,
according to two people with knowledge of the talks.
Multiple industry representatives told POLITICO that the proposed estimated
carbon footprint values are too low for a number of countries, which risks
undermining the efficiency of the CBAM.
For example, some steel products from China, Brazil and the United States have
much lower assumed emissions than equivalent products made in the EU, according
to the tables.
Ola Hansén, public affairs director of the green steel manufacturer Stegra, said
he had been “surprised” by the draft default values that have been circulating,
because they suggest that CO2 emissions for some steel production routes in the
EU were higher than in China, which seemed “odd.”
“Our recommendation would be [to] adjust the values, but go ahead with the
[CBAM] framework and then improve it over time,” he said.
Antoine Hoxha, director general of industry association Fertilizers Europe, also
said he found the proposed default values “quite low” for certain elements, like
urea, used to manufacture fertilizers.
“The result is not exactly what we would have thought,” he said, adding there is
“room for improvement.” But he also noted that the Commission is trying “to do a
good job but they are extremely overwhelmed … It’s a lot of work in a very short
period of time.”
Multiple industry representatives told POLITICO that the proposed estimated
carbon footprint values are too low for a number of countries, which risks
undermining the efficiency of the CBAM. | Photo by VCG via Getty Images
While a weak CBAM would be bad for many emissions-intensive, trade-exposed
industries in the EU, it’s likely to please sectors relying on cheap imports of
CBAM goods — such as European farmers that import fertilizer — as well as EU
trade partners that have complained the measure is a barrier to global free
trade.
The European Commission declined to comment.
DEFAULT VERSUS REAL EMISSIONS
Getting this data right is crucial to ensure the mechanism works and encourages
companies to lower their emissions to pay a lower CBAM fee.
“Inconsistencies in the figures of default values and benchmarks would dilute
the incentive for cleaner production processes and allow high-emission imports
to enter the EU market with insufficient carbon costs,” said one CBAM industry
representative, granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive talks. “This could
result in a CBAM that is not only significantly less effective but most likely
counterproductive.”
The default values for CO2 emissions are like a stick. When the legislation was
designed, they were expected to be set quite high to “punish importers that are
not providing real emission data,” and encourage companies to report their
actual emissions to pay a lower CBAM fee, said Leon de Graaf, acting president
of the Business for CBAM Coalition.
But if these default values are too low then importers no longer have any
incentive to provide their real emissions data. They risk making the CBAM less
effective because it allows imported goods to appear cleaner than they really
are, he said.
The Commission is under pressure to adopt these EU acts quickly as they’re
needed to set the last technical details for the implementation of the CBAM,
which applies from Jan. 1.
However, de Graaf warned against rushing that process.
On the one hand, importers “needed clarity yesterday” because they are currently
agreeing import deals for next year and at the moment “cannot calculate what
their CBAM cost will be,” he said.
But European importers are worried too, because once adopted the default
emission values will apply for the next two years, the draft documents suggest.
The CBAM regulation states that the default values “shall be revised
periodically.”
“It means that if they are wrong now … they will hurt certain EU producers for
at least two years,” de Graaf said.
The White House is exuding confidence heading into Wednesday’s Supreme Court
hearing that the justices will uphold President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff
powers.
But just in case, aides have a plan B.
Aides have spent weeks strategizing how to reconstitute the president’s global
tariff regime if the court rules that he exceeded his authority. They’re ready
to fall back on a patchwork of other trade statutes to keep pressure on U.S.
trading partners and preserve billions in tariff revenue, according to six
current and former White House officials and others familiar with the
administration’s thinking, some of whom were granted anonymity to share details
of private conversations.
“They’re aware there are a number of different statutes they can use to recoup
the tariff authority,” said Everett Eissenstat, former deputy director of the
White House’s National Economic Council during Trump’s first term. “There’s a
lot of tools there that they could go to to make up that tariff revenue.”
The contingency planning underscores how much is at stake for Trump, who has
used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law designed for
national emergencies, to impose tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner —
the foundation of his second-term economic agenda. The justices will weigh
whether the law gives the president broad power to impose economic restrictions
— or whether Trump has stretched it beyond what Congress intended.
If the court curtails that power, it could upend not only the White House’s
“America First” trade strategy but also the global negotiations Trump has
leveraged it to shape.
“This is all about foreign policy. This isn’t 1789 where you can clearly
delineate between trade policy, economic policy, national security policy and
defense policy. These things are all completely interconnected,” said Alex Gray,
who served as National Security Council chief of staff and deputy assistant to
the president during the first Trump administration. “To diminish the tools he
has to do that is really dangerous.”
Behind the scenes, trade and legal advisers have modeled what a partial loss
might look like — where the court upholds the use of the 1977 law in some
circumstances but not others — and what other legal means might be available to
achieve similar ends.
However, those alternatives are slower, narrower and, in some cases, similarly
vulnerable to legal challenge, leaving even White House allies to acknowledge
the administration’s tariff strategy is on shakier ground than it is willing to
publicly concede. Even a partial loss at the Supreme Court would make it much
harder for the president to use tariffs as an all-purpose tool for extracting
concessions on a number of issues, from muscling foreign companies to make
investments in the U.S. to pressuring countries into reaching peace agreements.
“There’s no other legal authority that will work as quickly or give the
president the flexibility he wanted,” said one supporter of Trump’s tariff
policies, who was part of a group that filed an amicus brief in support of his
tariffs. “They seem very confident that they’re going to win. I don’t see why
they’re confident at all. Two different courts that have ruled extremely harshly
on this.”
Still, White House aides are telegraphing confidence, convinced the justices
won’t strip Trump of his favorite negotiating tool, and certain that even if
they do, he has plenty of backup plans.
“Frankly, there’s a little bit of bravado, like, they’re not going to knock
these down,” one person close to the White House said.
A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations,
said the administration sees it as “a pretty clear case.”
“We’re using a law that Congress passed, in which they gave the executive branch
the authority to use tariffs to address national emergencies,” the official
said.
Aides concede that other tariff authorities are not a “one-for-one replacement”
for the emergency law, though they confirmed they are pursuing them.
In fact, the White House has already laid some of the policy groundwork under
those authorities, such as the 1970s-vintage Section 301, which the U.S. used
against China in Trump’s first term, or the Cold War-era Section 232, which
allows tariffs on national-security grounds.
The administration has launched more than a dozen 232 investigations into
whether the import of goods like lumber, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and
critical minerals from other countries impairs national security. Since January,
Trump has used that authority to impose new tariffs on copper, aluminum, steel
and autos.
It has also opened a 301 investigation into Brazil’s trade practices, including
digital services, ethanol tariffs and intellectual property protection. It’s a
model officials say could be replicated against other countries if the court
curtails IEEPA — and could be used to pressure countries into reaffirming the
trade deals that they’ve already negotiated with the United States, or to accept
the rates that Trump has unilaterally assigned them.
But those tools come with challenges: Section 301 investigations can take months
to complete, slowing Trump’s ability to impose tariffs unilaterally or tie them
to unrelated goals like ending the war between Russia and Ukraine or stem the
flow of fentanyl across the U.S. border.
Section 232 offers broad discretion to impose tariffs on national-security
grounds, but because the levies are sector-based, they are typically applied
across a product category, limiting Trump’s ability to pressure individual
countries.
And imposing new duties on global industries like semiconductors or
pharmaceuticals, as Trump has threatened, could upend recent agreements the
administration has reached with trading partners, especially China, which
negotiated a trade truce last week.
“This detente may have weakened the president’s resolve to go forward with the
232s. We’re worse off than we were,” a second person close to the administration
said.
The U.S. has already promised to delay fees on Chinese vessels arriving at U.S.
ports following the conclusion of a Section 301 investigation on China’s
shipbuilding practices as a result of the Thursday meeting between Trump and
Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The U.S. also agreed to delay an investigation into
China’s adherence to its trade deal from Trump’s first term.
Section 122, meanwhile, allows only short-term tariffs of up to 15 percent and
for no more than 150 days unless Congress acts to extend them — a narrow clause
meant to address trade deficit emergencies. The authority could potentially
serve as a bridge between an adverse court ruling and new duties Trump wants to
put in place using other authorities.
Then there’s Section 338 — a rarely used provision that’s been on the books for
nearly a century. In theory, it could let Trump swiftly impose tariffs of up to
50 percent on any country, if he can explain how they are engaging in
“unreasonable” or “discriminatory” actions that hurt U.S. commerce. Section 338
does not require a formal investigation before a president can impose tariffs,
but would likely face similar legal challenges.
Major trading partners are betting that Trump will find a way to reimpose
tariffs, somehow. Two European diplomats, granted anonymity to discuss trade
strategy, said the countries believe that the Supreme Court won’t strike down
the global tariffs and, if it does, it won’t do much to shift the dynamic.
“Our working assumption is that the court rulings won’t change anything,” a
European official said, adding that they are still hoping the law is overturned.
Some are convinced the only way to address the tariffs permanently is for the
president to appeal to Congress, arguing that only lawmakers can decide how much
unilateral power any White House should permanently wield over global commerce.
That would be an uphill battle. At least four Republicans are openly opposed to
the global tariffs — bucking Trump in a series of symbolic votes last week. And
it’s unclear whether there’s appetite for a vote on Trump’s tariffs in the
House, which has been shielded from weighing in on the tariffs until the end of
January, after Republican leadership blocked votes on Trump’s national
emergencies.
“At the end of the day, all this comes back to Congress,” Eissenstat said.
“Maybe Congress will step up its role post hearing, post ruling. We’ll see.”
Opponents of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are finally
getting their day in the U.S. Supreme Court. And while the justices may not rule
for some time, their lines of questioning could offer hints about which way they
are leaning in the blockbuster case.
On Wednesday, the high court will hear from the plaintiffs — a dozen
Democratic-run states and two sets of private companies — and the Trump
administration. Each side will have 40 minutes to make their arguments and then
get peppered with questions from the nine justices.
The court then has until the end of its term next July to issue a ruling,
although some of the lawyers who brought the initial cases hope it will move
faster given the real-world impact the decision will have. “It’s very reasonable
to expect that this will be decided before the end of the year, if not much,
much more before that,” said Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel at the Liberty
Justice Center, a constitutional rights law firm representing companies in the
case.
Advertisement
Three federal courts have ruled against Trump’s use of a 50-year-old emergency
law to impose broad “reciprocal” duties that he then deployed to strike trade
deals with the EU, Japan and other partners. The case does not address sectoral
tariffs on products like steel, aluminum or autos, which have also been part of
negotiations, but were imposed under a different legal authority that is not in
dispute.
If the Supreme Court rules that the tariffs Trump announced in April are
illegal, will those deals fall apart? We analyze the risks:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States
European Union
United Kingdom
China
Canada
Mexico
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNITED STATES
Risk assessment: Many legal experts think there is a strong chance the Supreme
Court will strike down the duties that Trump imposed under the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 sanctions law that empowers Trump
to “regulate” imports but does not specifically authorize tariffs.
Not all agree, arguing the conservative-led court is likely to back the Trump
administration’s view that the president has broad authority to conduct foreign
affairs and that imperative outweighs any concerns about executive branch
overreach that the court has expressed in previous cases.
Coping strategy: In the worst-case scenario for the administration, the Supreme
Court would strike down all the duties and order it to repay hundreds of
billions of dollars in duties paid by companies and individuals.
But even in that scenario, Trump may be able to use other authorities to
recreate the tariffs, including Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. That
provision could allow the president to impose a 15 percent global import
“surcharge” for up to 150 days, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian
think tank.
Trump would have to get congressional approval to keep any Section 122 tariffs
in place for longer — a tall order even in a Republican-led Congress. However,
he might be able to use the provision as a stopgap measure while he explores
other options.
Those include Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, which he used in his first term
to impose extensive tariffs on Chinese goods and recently deployed against
Brazil. Unlike IEEPA, which Trump believes merely allows him to declare an
international emergency to impose tariffs, Section 301 requires a formal
investigation into whether the United States has been harmed by an unfair
foreign trade practice.
However, Trump could also just use those investigations — and the implied threat
of tariffs — to pressure trading partners like the EU into reaffirming the trade
deals they have already struck with him.
Trump could also launch additional sectoral investigations under Section 232 of
the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, a provision that allows the president to restrict
imports determined to pose a threat to national security. He has employed that
measure in his first and second term to impose duties on steel, aluminum, autos,
auto parts, copper, lumber, furniture and heavy trucks.
In one variation, he’s used an ongoing investigation into pharmaceutical imports
to pressure companies to invest more in the United States and to slash drug
prices. He has also used the threat of semiconductor tariffs to prod countries
and companies into concessions, without yet imposing any duties.
The Commerce Department has other ongoing Section 232 investigations into
processed critical minerals, aircraft and jet engines, polysilicon, unmanned
aircraft systems, wind turbines, robotics and industrial machinery, and medical
supplies. And, as Trump’s lumber and furniture duties demonstrate, the
administration’s expansive definition of national security provides it with
broad leeway to open new investigations into a variety of sectors.
By Doug Palmer
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EUROPEAN UNION
Risk assessment: The European Union isn’t counting on the Supreme Court to save
it from Trump’s 15 percent baseline tariff — knowing full well that if U.S.
tariffs don’t come through the front door, they’ll come through the window.
“Even a condemnation or a ruling by the Supreme Court that these reciprocal
tariffs are illegal does not automatically mean that they fall,” the EU’s top
trade official, Sabine Weyand, told European lawmakers recently. “There are
other legal bases available.”
Trump invoked IEEPA to impose the baseline tariff on the 27-nation European
bloc. But Brussels is more worried about sectoral tariffs that Trump has imposed
on pharmaceuticals, cars and steel using other legal avenues — chiefly Section
232 investigations — that aren’t the subject of the case before the Supreme
Court.
Advertisement
Coping strategy: Brussels is in full damage-control mode, trying not to stir the
pot too much with Washington and focusing on implementing the deal struck by
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Trump’s Turnberry golf
resort in Scotland in July — and baked into a bare-bones joint statement the
following month.
Crucially, the EU asserts that it has locked in an “all-inclusive” tariff of 15
percent on most exports — so even if the Supreme Court throws out Trump’s
universal tariffs it would argue that the cap should still apply. “Even if all
IEEPA tariffs are eliminated, the EU would have an interest in keeping the
deal,” Ignacio García Bercero, who used to be the Commission’s point person for
its trade talks with the U.S., told POLITICO.
The Commission is also still in negotiations with the Trump administration to
secure further tariff exemptions for sensitive sectors such as wines and
spirits.
The European Parliament, which will need to approve the Turnberry accord, is
taking a more hawkish line over what many lawmakers have criticized as the
one-sided trade deal with the U.S.: It wants to add a “sunset” clause that would
effectively limit the EU’s trade concessions to Trump’s term in office. EU
countries have given that idea the thumbs down, however, saying deals that have
been agreed must be respected.
The EU has invited Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to a meeting of its trade
ministers in Brussels on Nov. 24. The focus there will be on reassuring him that
the legislation to implement the trade deal will pass, and on fending off U.S.
charges that EU business regulation is discriminatory.
By Camille Gijs
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNITED KINGDOM
Risk assessment: Should the Supreme Court strike down Donald Trump’s universal
tariffs, Britain won’t be off the hook. London may have secured a favorable, 10
percent baseline rate with Washington back in May — but that only goes so far.
That protection does not extend to Trump’s Section 232 steel and auto levies,
which remain in place. Under the current deal, Britain gets preferential tariffs
on its car exports, as well as a 50 percent reduction to the global steel tariff
rate.
If Britain tried to renegotiate its baseline tariffs, the U.S. could quickly
retaliate by withdrawing those preferential deals, and take a harder line in
ongoing negotiations covering pharma and whisky tariffs.
Coping strategy: The U.K. is pressing ahead with its negotiations with the Trump
administration on other parts of the deal — despite the ongoing court case.
British officials fly out to D.C. in mid-November to push forward talks, shortly
before Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is due in London on Nov. 24.
“I don’t think the U.K. or others would attempt to renegotiate in the first
instance — we might even see some public statements saying we plan to honour the
deal,” said Sam Lowe, British trade expert and partner at consultancy firm Flint
Global. “There’s too much risk in trying to reopen it in the first instance,
given it could antagonise Trump.”
Meanwhile the U.K. is seeking to strengthen its trade ties with other nations.
It struck a free trade agreement with India over summer, is renegotiating
aspects of its trading relationship with the European Union and hopes to close a
trade deal with a six-nation Gulf economic bloc including Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates in the coming weeks.
The U.K. is expected to maintain its current deal with the U.S., even if legal
challenges were to weaken Trump’s wider tariff regime.
By Caroline Hug
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHINA
Risk assessment: Chinese leader Xi Jinping exited his meeting with Trump in
South Korea last week with a U.S. commitment to cut in half the 20 percent
“emergency” tariff imposed in March to punish Beijing for its role in the U.S.
opioid epidemic. A possible ruling by the Supreme Court that overturns the
residual “emergency” tariffs on Chinese imports — the remainder of the fentanyl
tariff and the 10 percent “baseline” levy added in April — would leave Beijing
with an average 25 percent tariff rate.
The judges will test the administration’s position that its IEEPA tariffs are
legally sound because they constitute a justified regulation of imports. But a
blanket ruling on the levies on Chinese imports isn’t guaranteed.
“The Supreme Court is likely to make a binary ruling — the court might decide
the trade deficit tariffs are illegal, but the fentanyl tariffs are lawful,”
said Peter Harrell, former senior director for international economics in the
Joe Biden administration.
The Chinese embassy declined to comment on how Beijing might respond to a SCOTUS
ruling in China’s favor. But it would mark a symbolic victory for the Chinese
government whose Foreign Minister Wang Yi has described them as an expression of
“extreme egoism.”
Coping strategy: Celebration in Beijing about a possible revocation of any of
these tariffs may be short-lived. That’s because Trump can wield multiple other
trade weapons even if the Supreme Court deems the tariffs unlawful.
His administration signaled that it’s priming potential replacements for the
IEEPA tariffs with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s announcement
last week of Section 301 probes of Beijing’s adherence to the U.S.-China Phase
One trade deal in Trump’s first term. It is also undertaking Section 232 probes
— geared to determine national security threats — of Chinese-dominated imports
including pharmaceuticals, critical minerals and wind turbines.
“There’s ample opportunity for the Trump administration to use other legal
instruments in the event that the IEEPA tariffs get struck down,” said Emily
Kilcrease, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative during Trump’s
first term and under Biden. The 301 investigation into the Phase One deal is
already active, and “will allow them to be fairly quick in responding in the
event that the Supreme Court rules against the administration,” Kilcrease said
at a Center for a New American Security briefing.
By Phelim Kine
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CANADA
Risk assessment: It’s a bit of a lose-lose situation for Canada.
Trump pre-emptively blamed a Canadian provincial government for weaponizing
Ronald Reagan in an ad to influence the SCOTUS ruling. The 60-second spot
launched on U.S. networks on Oct. 16 to bring an anti-trade war message to
Republican districts rather than to nine Supreme Court justices. It riled Trump
enough that he ended trade talks eight days later. Then he vowed to increase
tariff levels by 10 percent in retribution.
If the court sides with Trump, it will justify an impulse to use IEEPA to raise
rates higher without a need for findings or an investigation. And if the court
rules against the president — Ottawa will have to prepare for more of Trump’s
fury over the ad.
The U.S. increased the IEEPA tariff rate on Canada to 35 percent from 25 percent
in July, citing a failure to crack down on fentanyl trafficking across the
northern border. This 35-percent rate excludes the promised 10-percent
retributive increase — an executive order hasn’t been released. It’s unclear
which legal authority Trump will use if his stated reasoning is to punish Canada
over an ad about Reagan’s warning about protectionism.
Advertisement
Prime Minister Mark Carney has called the IEEPA tariffs “unlawful and
unjustified.” And he’s been able to play down the threat, for now, by reminding
Canadians that these “fentanyl tariffs” have a carve-out for goods covered under
the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Carney regularly says 85
percent of Canadian exports enter the U.S. tariff free. Section 232 tariffs on
industry have hit the economy harder than the IEEPA tariffs.
Coping strategy: Canada is frantically pursuing trade diversification coupled
with a high-level charm offensive while its trade negotiators try to limit the
scope of the upcoming review of the USMCA to minimize U.S. tariff exposure.
“Our priorities are to keep the review as targeted as possible, to seek a prompt
renewal of the agreement, while securing preferential market access and a stable
and predictable trading environment for Canadian businesses and investors,”
Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman recently told a parliamentary
committee.
Carney has, meanwhile, apologized to Trump for the Reagan ad.
By Zi-Ann Lum
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MEXICO
Risk assessment: Trump has hit Mexico, the largest U.S. trading partner, with
multiple tariffs since taking office. Those include a 25 percent duty imposed
under IEEPA to pressure the country to do more to stop fentanyl and precursor
chemicals — as well as illegal immigrants — from entering the United States.
Trump softened the blow by excluding goods that comply with terms of the
U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement from the new IEEPA duties. That has encouraged more
and more companies to fill out paperwork to claim the exemption.
About 90 percent of Mexican goods entering the U.S. now have the necessary USMCA
documentation, compared to around 60 percent last year, said Diego Marroquín, a
fellow in the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies.
Still, U.S. customs officials report collecting $5.7 billion in IEEPA duties on
Mexican goods between Mar. 4 and Sep. 23, according to the most recent data
available. Trump also has threatened to raise the IEEPA tariff on Mexico to 30
percent, but reportedly recently agreed to delay that move for several more
weeks to allow time for talks.
Coping strategy: President Claudia Sheinbaum has stayed on Trump’s good side by
declining to retaliate and working with the U.S. on fentanyl and illegal
immigration concerns. She has kept that forbearance while Trump has piled new
tariffs on Mexico’s exports of autos, auto parts and certain other products
using Section 232.
Mexico’s ultimate goal is to maintain the preferential access it enjoys to the
U.S. market under the USMCA, which is up for review next year, when countries
have to say if they want to continue the pact past July 1, 2036, its current
expiration date.
Sheinbaum told reporters on Oct. 27 that she hopes to resolve U.S. concerns over
54 Mexican non-tariff trade barriers in coming weeks.
While a return to tariff-free trade with the U.S. seems unlikely while Trump is
in office, Mexico hopes to be treated better than most other trading partners,
or at least no worse. That drama will play out in the first half of 2026.
By Doug Palmer
Back to top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doug Palmer and Phelim Kine reported from Washington, Camille Gijs from
Brussels, Caroline Hug from London and Zi-Ann Lum from Ottawa.
Advertisement
OTTAWA — President Donald Trump abruptly halted “all trade negotiations” with
Canada late Thursday night over an ad that enlisted the voice of Ronald
Reagan to oppose U.S. tariffs. Ontario Premier Doug Ford predicted earlier this
week that the president would not be “too happy” with the 60-second spot his
province produced to warn Americans that Trump’s tariffs could ultimately kill
their jobs.
“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently
used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking
negatively about Tariffs,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court,
and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND
ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS
WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”
Earlier in the evening, The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation hit back at
the ad, saying it “misrepresents” Reagan’s presidential radio address on April
25, 1987, which was focused on free and fair trade.
The foundation said the Government of Ontario “did not seek nor receive
permission to use and edit the remarks” and that it is reviewing its legal
options.
“We encourage you to watch President Reagan’s unedited video on our YouTube
channel.”
The offices of Prime Minister Mark Carney and Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic
LeBlanc said they would not be commenting on Thursday, but they would likely
have more to say on Friday.
“The commercial uses an unedited excerpt from one of President Reagan’s public
addresses, which is available through public domain,” a spokesperson for Ford
said in an email to CBC News.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The quote of former President Ronald Reagan was recognizing that ultimately
somebody pays the tariff — and it’s the consumer,” Carney said when asked about
it during an interview last week with Toronto’s RED-FM. “The company passes it
on, the price goes up eventually, and you pay the cost of the tariff.”
Trump has imposed double-digit tariffs on Canada’s steel, aluminum, auto, lumber
and copper sectors. The president has said he is open to renegotiating the
United States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement, but has also left open the
possibility of abandoning the framework altogether.
Carney, a former central bank governor in Canada and Britain, continued: “As an
economist, I say that if somebody is trading fairly, it’s better not to have
tariffs between those countries.”
The prime minister noted that Trump’s White House is committed to tariffs. “I
don’t agree with their policy, but I recognize that is their policy, and I don’t
expect it to change.”LeBlanc and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had a meeting
scheduled for this week, an official familiar with the trade negotiations told
POLITICO. They were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss
the matter. It’s unclear if the two had met, or if the Liberal government
received a heads-up.
Carney was previously blindsided by the president in June when Trump halted
trade negotiations over Canada’s then-Digital Services Tax. Negotiations resumed
days later when Carney’s government agreed to rescind the tax, which would have
cost U.S. tech companies like Amazon and Google billions of dollars.
Carney said earlier in the day Thursday that he speaks “frequently” with Trump,
but couldn’t reach him to bet on the World Series, which kicks off Friday with
the Toronto Blue Jays up against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I think he’s afraid to make a bet,” Carney said, smiling while attending a Jays
practice in Toronto. “He hasn’t returned my call yet on the bet. I’m ready.
We’re ready to make a bet with the U.S.”White House press secretary Karoline
Leavitt told reporters Thursday that Trump isn’t a big gambler.
The Ontario ad has aired in major markets, including D.C., and during the
Toronto Blue Jays’ games. “We’re going to repeat that message to every
Republican district there is right across the entire country,” Ford said last
week before the ad launched.
Reagan’s address warned of the long-term economic perils of tariffs on foreign
imports sold to Americans as a protectionist policy and explained they were
imposed to sort a particular problem — not to begin a trade war.
“But over the long run, such trade barriers hurt every American, worker and
consumer,” Reagan narrates in the ad. “High tariffs inevitably lead to
retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then
the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut
down and millions of people lose their jobs.”
China’s embassy in Washington notably used the same Reagan clip to troll Trump’s
global tariffs when the China-U.S. trade war heated up in the spring.
“I do believe that everybody’s too smart for that,” Trump said Tuesday after
catching the anti-tariffs spot.
Carney and Trump will both be in Malaysia and South Korea to attend ASEAN and
APEC, with Carney scheduled to leave for Asia Friday morning.