Will Trump tariffs escalate global trade war?

United States President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the US will impose a 10 per cent basic fee on imports from all countries of the world, including from Kosovo and other Western Balkan countries.

He also announced higher rates for dozens of countries that have trade surpluses with the United States, increasing the risk of a trade fight and rising inflation.

To goods imported from Kosovo, a fee of 10 percent has been imposed on those from Albania 10 percent, Serbia 37 percent, Bosnia and Herzegovina 35 percent, and North Macedonia 33 percent.

Speaking at the White House, Trump said that against imports from China the 34 percent fee will be imposed against those from the European Union 20 percent, South Korea 25 percent, and Japan 24 percent.

Products that Kosovo exports to the US include food, juice, textile, mattresses, but products from wood and plastic.

Economic organisations say that by 2019, in fact, Kosovo's overall exports to the U.S. have begun increasing quality of products.

Kosovo Customs data shows this, according to which their value in 2019 was threem euros, while three years later it reached over 131m.

The Trump declared national economic emergency to implement tariffs, which are expected to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenues.

He has promised that jobs in factories will return to the United States as a result of these tariffs, but his policies endanger sudden economic slowdown, as consumers and businesses may face significant price increases for vehicles, clothes and other goods.

“The taxpayers have been robbed for more than 50 years”, Trump said during the speech at the White House. But this will not happen again”.

Seting tariffs was one of Trump's main promises during his campaign.

Earlier, Trump set similar rates of 25% on automobile imports; tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico; as well as expanding trade penalties on steel and aluminum.

Trump has also imposed tariffs on countries importing oil from Venezuela and plans separate taxes on imports of pharmaceutical drugs, wood, copper and computer chips.

Will Trump tariffs escalate global trade war?

Trump's tariffs have already faced revenge measures, and Wednesday's announcement could further spark a global trade fight.

Both Canada and China have imposed revenge fees on a variety of American products, while the EU has declared it will impose a 50% fee on American whiskey and other goods.

The 27-nation bloc has also threatened, but has not yet implemented a 25% fee on all US imports.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that Brussels has a strong “plan” to counter new US tariffs.

Trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, which have been trading tariffs since February, are expected to escalate further after Trump's announcement Wednesday.

However, the US president has left open the possibility of lowering tariffs on Chinese goods to reach an agreement with the Chinese company TikTok, ByteDance, as April 5th deadline for the sale of the app approaches.

Under American law, ByteDance had to sell ownership of TikTok by January 19th or face its ban. However, Trump gave an additional 75-day deadline. / REL/Periscopi/