California Governor seeks tariff exemption amid trade tensions
The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, a member of the Democratic Party, is responding to Donald Trump's decision by appealing for the exclusion of Californian products from retaliatory tariffs, reports "Newsweek", adding that the richest state in America has much to lose in a trade war.
The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has reached out to international trade partners for the exclusion of Californian products from retaliatory tariffs.
Appeal of the California Governor
According to "Newsweek", California, being the richest state in the USA, could greatly feel the effects of the trade war initiated by Donald Trump.
The governor emphasizes that this state is a leader in agriculture and production, and its economy is the fifth largest in the world. Such giants as Google, Apple, and Facebook have their headquarters in California.
Newsom underlines that California will remain a reliable trade partner, regardless of political turbulence in Washington.
Trump's tariffs: Here are the effects
According to the executive order signed by Trump, new 10-percent tariffs came into effect on Saturday and constitute the basic tariff rate for nearly all goods imported into the USA from almost all countries of the world.
However, the new tariffs will not apply to Canada and Mexico, on which President Trump had previously imposed a 25 percent tax (affecting about half of the imports). Excluded from these tariffs are also steel, aluminum, cars, and car parts, which are also subject to a separate 25 percent tariff, as well as copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and lumber (these are to be additionally taxed in the future), as well as energy carriers and minerals not available in the USA.
This is the first part of the tariffs announced by Donald Trump, theoretically intended to introduce reciprocity in trade relations. On April 9, additional taxes are to be implemented on goods from 57 countries that have a trade surplus with the United States.
Among these are China and the European Union, which are to be covered by an additional 34 percent and 20 percent tariff, respectively, as well as Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), India (26 percent), Vietnam (46 percent), and Taiwan (32 percent).
According to calculations by Yale Budget Lab, if all the new tariffs come into effect as announced by President Trump, the new average US tariff rate will increase from 2.2 percent to over 22 percent. This will be the highest in over a century and significantly higher than tariffs in most countries worldwide. As a result, the tariffs will even exceed those introduced by the Smoot-Hawley Act in 1930 in response to the Great Depression. Those tariffs are considered by historians as one of the reasons for the prolonged duration of the global crisis.
