The radical tariffs of President Donald Trump announced during the weekend, as well as the promise of more punishing measures against some of the closest commercial partners of Washington, have alarmed the allies and the scared markets on what some fear can become In a global commercial war.
While most world leaders have been circumspects about the levies against Canada, Mexico and China, economists say that consumers around the world will face spiral prices as supply chains that assets between countries move between countries They are exposed more to political risk and, therefore, more expensive.
Chrystia Freeland, a contender to be the Prime Minister of Canada, told MSNBC ” To Canada.
“The fact is that these rates are truly imposed for absolutely no reason,” he said. “We believe it is completely crazy and we are also very, very angry with you.”
But the responses of the majority of the United States allies, for fear that they can also be the focus of the Trump administration tariff The president’s negotiation style.
The European Union said that “it would respond firmly” if Trump hits him with tariffs and that “regrets” the duties he has imposed so far. Japan said that “carefully examining” the potential impact on global trade.
Independent experts, who do not have to do business directly with Trump over the next four years, have been more full of plains with their analysis.
“What was considered to be Farol and Bravuconería de Trump has become a cold and hard reality,” Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets of the British investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, said in an email, in an email the Monday. “It has been clear that Trump’s way of doing business is sowing chaos seeds and unpredictability to obtain national political victories.”
Promises maintained
Trump tariffs that will come into force on Tuesday, are not a surprise since the president telegraphed them repeatedly during the 2024 electoral campaign.
For a long time it has seen commercial deficits, countries that sell more to the US and the flow of illicit fentanyl that has killed tens of thousands of Americans, such as other reasons to impose them.
Some of the president’s allies, including Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, had suggested that tariffs would be used mainly as a negotiation tactic to obtain favorable agreements, instead of a practical policy option.
“The tariff gun will always be loaded and on the table, but it is rarely downloaded,” Besent had written to investors in their coverage fund of the Key Square group last year.
This weekend, however, Trump fulfilled his promise, announcing for the first time on Saturday a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods and a 10% rate on the Chinese.
While Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that after a conversation with Trump, planned tariffs had been suspended for a month, other parts of the world are also preparing for similar taxes, no less important from the European Union.
The EU’s commercial deficit is an “atrocity,” Trump told journalists in Maryland on Sunday, regretting that the 27 -nations block did not “take our cars, do not take our agricultural products, they take almost nothing and take everything from them “
European response
The EU “would firmly respond to any commercial partner that unfairly or arbitrarily imposes tariffs on EU’s assets,” said a spokesman for the block in a statement on Monday.
The Trump administration “seems to be really following the threats,” said Julian Hinz, director of commercial policy research at the Kiel Institute for the world economy, a group of German experts.
Even so, Europe in itself is barely unified on this issue. The traditional main political parties of the block have been pressed by the right -wing populists, many of whom share Trump’s antipathy towards the global trade system that, together with immigration, blame to erode jobs in manufacturing and other industries.
But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended globalization on Sunday, saying that “it has proven to be a great success story that has created prosperity for all of us” and “that is why it is important that we do not divide the world now with many customs. Barriers.”
The same day, the German automatic giant Volkswagen said in a statement that he was “with constructive conversations between commercial partners to guarantee security planning and economic stability and avoid a commercial conflict.”
Quake of Asian markets
While the company sought to calm the waters, investors pointed out their concerns about non -American car manufacturers.
As VW’s actions fell in more than 5% on Monday, Japanese and South Korean giants such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda also saw the prices of their shares fall, with investors who considered the Mexican factories of those companies that export cars to the United States.
And in Taiwan, many of whose semiconductor and electronic companies have factories both in Mexico and China, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Monday that it would help companies affected by US tariffs, even by providing information on how to relocate with the United States .
Although the Asian allies of the United States, such as Japan and South Korea, have not been beaten with tariffs, have no less risk of the effects of these taxes on their global corporations.
“We have to carefully consider the reasoning behind this decision and what an impact can have,” Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru ishiba said on Monday legislators on Monday. “At the same time, Mr. Trump often uses the word ‘fair’. We will carefully examine how this serves the national interests of the United States and also how this can affect world free trade.”
Worse than expected
Shigeru’s silenced reaction echoed those of his European counterparts and the slight collective reaction of long -standing allies of America can mask the reality that Trump’s actions are “worse” of what was expected, according to David Henig, director From the European Center for International Political Economy, a group of experts based in Brussels.
The European powers “would have expected Trump to want agreements,” said Henig. “But now it seems to be saying: ‘I want rates. The more rates, the better. And that leaves the rest of the world, which is accustomed to trade, with great problems. “
What is causing more alarm in European corridors of power is Trump’s will to take measures against the neighbor of Northern Washington, said Henig.
“People say: ‘endure a minute, is the United States facing Canada?” Added. “If you are going to put high tariffs in Canada, then, frankly, anyone seems to be threatened. It seems that there is no rhyme or reason for it. “
There today, here tomorrow
The European and Asian allies of the United States may have been attached to the financial markets on Monday, and the Trump administration tariffs have already chosen the value of Mexican and Canadian assets.
The Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar slid in the first operations on Monday, the latter fell to its lowest value against the US dollar since 2003.
Although Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already announced retaliation tariffs against a variety of American goods, China has been more restricted.
And although Beijing quickly reacted to Trump’s tariffs during his first mandate, this time he has not yet specified how he plans to retaliate apart from saying that he would file a demand before the World Trade Organization and promulgates “necessary” countermeasures “not specified.
However, there may be an opportunity in chaos for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is trying to correct the torture economy of his country.
“China will frame Trump’s tariffs such as unilateral and destabilizers, presenting China as a multilateralism champion and global economic stability,” said Craig Singleton, a member of China senior of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, said a group of experts In Washington in an email.
“XI could exploit the time to deepen associations with emerging markets and position China as an alternative to US leadership.”
