US President Donald Trump on Friday said that he would announce further “reciprocal” tariffs next week.
Asked about tariffs on products from Japan as he met Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House, Trump answered in far-reaching terms, speaking of “reciprocal trade, so that we’re treated evenly with other countries. We don’t want any more, any less.”
Trump spoke of an announcement on Monday or Tuesday.
“I think that’s the only fair way to do it that way nobody’s hurt,” Trump said. “They charge us, we charge them. It’s the same thing, and I seem to be going in that line as opposed to a flat fee tariff.”
Trump said that tariffs were not discussed much in his meeting with the Japanese premier. It was not clear who would be targeted by the new measures. The US president has hinted he would soon impose tariffs on goods imported from the European Union.
US tariffs of 10% on Chinese goods took effect on Tuesday, while planned tariffs of 25% on Mexico and Canada were suspended for an initial period of 30 days following promises from the two countries to increase border security measures.
Trump won November’s presidential election promising to slap high tariffs on foreign goods to reduce US trade deficits. He previously implemented a number of duties during his first term from 2017 to 2021.