US President-elect Donald Trump watches Turning Point USA’s America Fest held at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Rebecca Noble | Getty Images
The Washington Post reports that President-elect Donald Trump is considering a plan to continue imposing tariffs on all countries but focusing on a few goods and services.
The newspaper cited people familiar with Trump’s thinking as saying that while the new approach to tariffs would likely not be as strong as Trump’s previous ideas, it would still result in significant changes to global commerce.
However, President Trump disputed this report in a post on Truth Social.
“The Washington Post article, citing a so-called anonymous source that does not exist, falsely states that my tariff policy will be reduced. That is false,” he wrote.
The report was released amid concerns that the president-elect’s insistence on imposing universal 10% or 20% tariffs, targeting China and Mexico in particular, would trigger another spike in inflation. .
During President Trump’s first term, tariffs on a wide range of imports did little to raise prices broadly, and in fact, they remained in place even after Joe Biden took office. But economists fear the situation is different now and aggressive tariffs could have an even bigger impact.
It’s not yet clear which sectors the plan will affect, although early discussions are considering a range of industrial metals, medical supplies and energy, the Post reported.
The United States runs a $74 billion monthly trade deficit, which has exploded during the coronavirus pandemic.
