On February 13th local time, US President Trump announced that he has decided to impose "equivalent tariffs", which means that the US and its trading partners will impose equal tariff rates on each other, and said he will consider imposing tariffs on countries that use the value-added tax system.

When signing the memorandum in the Oval Office of the White House that day, Trump said, "For the sake of fairness, I have decided to impose equivalent tariffs, which means that no matter how much tariffs other countries impose on the United States, we will impose the same tariffs on them, no more, no less.

Reduce the persistent trade deficit in goods

The memo states that the US policy is to "reduce the large and persistent trade deficit in goods" and address "other unfair and unbalanced trade issues" with foreign trading partners.

According to The New York Times and The Hill, the new reciprocal tariff measures will be formulated based on a series of trade measures taken by countries that trade with the United States, including the level of tariffs imposed by other countries on the United States, subsidies provided to domestic industries, exchange rates, and any actions deemed unfair by the United States.

The collection time is not specified

The memorandum did not specify the timing of the "equivalent tariff" collection. However, analysis shows that the reciprocal tariffs announced by Trump this time will not immediately begin to be imposed, but the signing of the relevant memorandum will enable the Trump administration to initiate the process of formulating the relevant tariffs. White House officials have stated that Trump hopes to take swift action and hinted that it will take "weeks" rather than "months" to implement tariff measures.(This article is from the official website of Jian Dao www.seetao.com. Reproduction without permission is prohibited, otherwise it will be prosecuted. Please indicate Jian Dao website+original link when reprinting.) Jian Dao website strategy column editor/Li Xiu'e