Trade Cases

White House announces plan for reciprocal tariffs

February 13, 2025

President Donald J. Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday announcing the “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” for trade. This would eventually see the levying of reciprocal tariffs on trading partners after a trade analysis for each country is conducted.

While no action will be taken immediately, the US will begin to assess its trading relationships with partners around the world. A plan with suggested remedies will then be submitted to the president.

Details

The memorandum states that the Trump administration will work “to counter non-reciprocal trading arrangements with trading partners by determining the equivalent of a reciprocal tariff with respect to each foreign trading partner.”

Note that it was determined that “non-reciprocal” relationships will be examined for “all” US trading partners.

The memorandum goes on to say:

“Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall assess all fiscal impacts on the Federal Government and the impacts of any information collection requests on the public, and shall deliver an assessment in writing to the President.”

Fact sheet

A fact sheet issued by the White House said the plan “will seek to correct longstanding imbalances in international trade and ensure fairness across the board.”

It noted that the US is one of the most open economies in the world. However, “our trading partners keep their markets closed to our exports,” it said.

“This lack of reciprocity is unfair and contributes to our large and persistent annual trade deficit,” the White House continued.

The fact sheet cites a 2019 report that found that, across 132 countries and more than 600,000 product lines, US exporters face higher tariffs more than two-thirds of the time.

“Reciprocal tariffs will bring back fairness and prosperity to the distorted international trade system and stop Americans from being taken advantage of,” the fact sheet states.

Steel was not explicitly cited in the memorandum or the fact sheet beyond Trump’s previously announced steel tariffs.

Ethan Bernard

Ethan Bernard is managing editor for Steel Market Update. He previously worked for American Metal Market as a copy editor in the New York office for two years, starting in 2008. Later, he copy edited AMM’s monthly magazine on a freelance basis from 2015 until 2017. With experience in financial copywriting and textbook publishing, he holds a BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA. in Creative Writing from New York University. He can be reached at ethan@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7871.