Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00For more on the story, our international affairs editor, Ketavan Ghojasthani, joins me now
00:04in the studio.
00:05Ketavan, so what more can you tell us about these tariffs and the reactions we've had
00:08from the three countries?
00:09Well, first of all, what Donald Trump has used in this case is the International Emergency
00:14Economic Powers Act.
00:17And as you said, he cited extraordinary threats coming from these countries, including the
00:24flow of fentanyl and illegal immigration.
00:26In order to justify those tariffs, these three countries, as you said, were top goods trading
00:33partners.
00:35And we're talking here about all sorts of raw materials, as well as agricultural goods
00:42and cars.
00:43So a wide array of goods.
00:46And this is something that many experts are saying, well, maybe this is going to have
00:50a bad impact on U.S. consumers because of the possibility that it's going to increase
00:56the price of these goods.
00:58And we saw the Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pouncing on that last
01:04night with a series of tweets that basically was telling the Americans, look at this, you're
01:11going to be—you're going to be watching the Super Bowl while Donald Trump's tariffs
01:16are going to increase the price of pizza, the price of beer, the price of guacamole,
01:22all of these things to show that this is detrimental to the American people.
01:26Now, initially, Donald Trump's claims and his team's claims was that this was not going
01:30to have consequences on the price of goods in the United States.
01:35And of course, he was elected in part on bringing down inflation.
01:39But now it seems that Donald Trump is changing his tone a little bit.
01:43Earlier today, this morning in the United States, he put out a post on his social media
01:49platform.
01:50And at the end of that post, he said, will there be some pain?
01:54Yes, maybe, maybe not, but we will make America great again, and it will all be worth the
02:00price that must be paid.
02:02So a hint that maybe he is now considering the fact that this might have consequences
02:07on the American economy.
02:09And another sign that Trump is realizing that possible impact is that, for example, on energy
02:15price, on energy goods coming from Canada, it's not going to be 25 percent.
02:20It's going to be just 10 percent because of the possibility of that impact on the U.S.
02:27economy.
02:28The reaction was quick from those three countries, Canada, as you said, saying that it would
02:32match those 25 percent tariffs.
02:35Mexico also saying that they were going to slap retaliatory tariffs, even though we don't
02:40know exactly the amount.
02:42And China also saying that they were going to take the necessary countermeasures.
02:46Donald Trump's not stopping there.
02:48He's already planning on possibly going forward and adding more tariffs and more goods that
02:54will fall under those tariffs.
02:56So more tariffs on these three countries, as you say, but also potentially on the European
03:01Union as well.
03:02Yes.
03:03And this is really clear that in this case, it's not going to be about fentanyl.
03:08It's not going to be about immigration.
03:09It's completely different.
03:12And on Friday, our correspondent, Sonia Dridi, was actually in the Oval Office, and she asked
03:17point blank Donald Trump whether or not he would be likely doing the same thing, slapping
03:23tariffs on the European Union.
03:25Here's the answer of the U.S. president.
03:28Am I going to impose tariffs on the European Union?
03:32You want the truthful answer or should I give you a political answer?
03:36Absolutely.
03:37Absolutely.
03:38The European Union is treated so terribly.
03:44The Europeans have been treating us very, very badly or terribly.
03:48This is a long held grievance by Donald Trump against the European Union.
03:53And basically, he has said in the past many times that the European Union is simply ripping
03:57off the United States.
04:00That is mostly because the U.S. has a goods trade deficit with the European Union.
04:07But he has said also that the Europeans don't take American cars, don't take American goods,
04:12which is not necessarily true.
04:14The EU imports a lot of U.S. goods.
04:18It imports 500s, the EU exports a lot, but also imports quite a bit, billions, hundreds
04:25of billions of U.S. goods.
04:28And so the question now is how is the European Union going to be reacting to that?
04:33The commission already hinted at the fact that possibly they would retaliate, but they
04:38haven't made a decision.
04:40And there's going to be an informal retreat this Monday in Brussels.
04:44And the different countries are already saying that the relationship with the United States
04:49is going to be a key part of this retreat, discussing together how to best respond to
04:55Donald Trump, because the strategy of Donald Trump here with the European Union is divide
05:00and conquer.
05:01You're already seeing some countries like the Italians, for example, saying, well, maybe
05:06we should buy more U.S. goods, more U.S. oil and gas, more U.S. weapons in order to make
05:12Donald Trump come down and to avoid those tariffs.
05:15But some other countries in the European Union are saying, no, we need to stay united.
05:19We need to speak with one voice.
05:20What he is trying to do is separate us.
05:23But we are stronger as a bloc, as a trading partner, as the European Union, not as individual
05:29countries.
05:30So we'll see what comes out of that gathering tomorrow.
05:33But already the Europeans starting to realize that maybe they are next on those tariffs
05:37and they need to figure out very quickly how to answer to Donald Trump.