The United States is considering the establishment of universal customs duties

A new twist in the customs duties imposed by the United States? According to Jamieson Greer, the American representative for trade (USTR) chosen by Donald Trump, during his confirmation hearing at the Congress, universal customs duties, imposed on all products entering the United States, “must be studied and envisaged ”.

According to Mr. Greer, who will be responsible, in the event of confirmation, for part of the commercial policy of the new government, in particular for the implementation of customs duties, it is necessary to ensure that such taxes could ” Reverse both trade deficit and relocation “and create” conditions for fair competition “.

The United States ready to use “all tools” available to them

“The United States is a country of producers,” he insisted, believing that American companies and farmers, among the “most competitive in the world”, must “gain access to markets that have been closed so far ». “All the tools at our disposal” could be used to achieve this, he warned.

Questioned more specifically about the trade relationship of the United States with China, Jamieson Greer admitted to feeling that the United States “will always need to trade with” Beijing. But “we must have a more diverse export base,” he added. “With China, the principle of reciprocity is a word that we can use. We need a more balanced relationship ”with the second world economy.

In the immediate future, Jamieson Greer intends to ensure that China will “quickly” respect the first phase of the trade agreement signed during the first term of Donald Trump, between 2017 and 2021.

Beijing had agreed in 2020 to buy more American products, in particular agricultural products, in exchange for the lifting of part of the customs duties applied to the equivalent of $ 300 billion in Chinese products imported into the United States .

However, the agreement had never been followed by effects with the emergence of the pandemic and the disruption of trade flows which had affected the world economy when the confinements were ended.

“Reaching an agreement” with China

China was targeted on Saturday by 10 % customs duties which will now be gradually applied to all of its products entering the United States, and which will be added to those already existing for a certain number of products.

They were imposed at the same time as the 25 % announced on Mexican and Canadian products, officially to push the three countries to act in order to limit fentanyl traffic, a powerful opioid cause of a major health crisis in the United States, towards the first world economy. But “we must reach an agreement on this subject,” insisted Mr. Greer.

The United States has suspended Customs Duties to Canada and Mexico, after a month, after the two countries announced a series of measures to better monitor their borders.

More broadly, the future USTR said that the government has a “relatively short window of opportunity” to restructure the international trade system to make it more aligned with American interests.