President Trump orders examination of use of reciprocal tariffs

The White House today released a memorandum directing his administration to investigate harm to the United States from non-reciprocal trading arrangements.  The report on the results of the investigation is to include proposed remedies for such arrangements, including the use of reciprocal tariffs.

According to the memorandum, the “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” will examine non-reciprocal trade relationships with all U.S. trading partners, including any:

• Tariffs imposed on U.S.  products
• Unfair, discriminatory, or extraterritorial taxes imposed by U.S. trading partners, including a value added tax (VAT)
• Costs arising from nontariff barriers or measures and unfair or harmful acts, policies, or practices, including subsidies, and burdensome regulatory requirements on U.S. businesses operating in other countries
• Policies and practices that cause exchange rates to deviate from their market value, wage suppression, and other mercantilist policies
• Any other practice that imposes any unfair limitation on market access or any structural impediment to fair competition with the market economy of the United States

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is tasked with assessing the fiscal impacts of the plan within 180 days.

Read a White House fact sheet