Mr. Trump is expected to be more lenient when imposing import taxes

This means the scale of tariffs will be narrowed, but there is still the potential to disrupt global trade and cause consequences for consumers and the US economy. Source of Washington Post also said that it is unclear which sectors will be affected by import taxes. At preliminary discussions, energy, medical supplies and metals for industrial applications were mentioned a lot.

During the election campaign, Mr. Trump proposed imposing a 10-20% import tax on all goods entering the US. Particularly for China, this number can increase to 60-100%. Many economists have warned that this could create a price shock. Many Republican lawmakers also criticized the plan.

After the information of Washington Post, Mr. Trump immediately denied it. “Post by Washington Post citing anonymous sources, which actually do not exist. They falsely assert that my tax policy will be narrower. There is no such thing,” he wrote on the social network Truth Social.

However, this information still helped many Asian stock markets increase this morning. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index increased 0.16%. Nikkei 225 is currently up 2%, mainly thanks to technology stocks. Korean Kospi added 0.57%.

In contrast, in the Chinese market, the Shanghai Composite index decreased by 0.3%. Hang Seng Index on Hong Kong stock exchange lost 1.9%.

“The Washington Post’s information may also be correct. Officials in the Trump administration will offer many options for discussion. But the final decision is still his,” Khoon Goh – Director of Research for Asia Asia at ANZ commented above Reuters.

He said that currently, Trump is still tough when talking about import taxes. However, from the developments in his first term, Goh realized that Mr. Trump is open to negotiation. “This partly explains why the markets did not react too negatively,” he explained.

Mr. Trump’s senior economic advisers are still considering how to impose tariffs without much impact on the stock market and consumer prices. In fact, during his first term, his wide-ranging import tariffs did not cause prices to rise sharply. These policies remain in place under President Biden.

“What President-elect Trump wants is a level playing field. He believes that if placed in the same competitive and regulatory environment, American industry will outperform other countries in the world,” Jared Kushner – Mr. Trump’s son-in-law explained in a radio show at the end of December.