Sept. 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has announced a slew of tariffs to go into effect at the start of next month impacting pharmaceuticals, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, heavy trucks and other products.
Trump announced the tariffs separately on his Truth Social media platform Thursday night, all to go into effect Oct. 1, with the first being a 25% tariff on all so-called heavy trucks manufactured outside of the United States.
The second statement announced a 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and “associated products,” as well as a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture over “national security and other reasons” to protect U.S. manufacturing from “the large scale ‘FLOODING’ of these products into the United States by other Countries.”
The third, and final, announcement for Thursday night from the American president was a 100% tariff on branded or patented pharmaceutical products, which would be waived if the company was “BUILDING their pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America.”
“There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started,” he said.
Trump has long turned to economic tariffs as a bargaining tool, both as a negotiation tactic and as an attempt to spur the domestic manufacturing industry. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has railed against trade deficits, often framing them as examples of trading partners taking advantage of the United States.
He has imposed a series of policies that have increased tariffs on U.S. imports from all global partners, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. Some countries have responded with retaliatory tariffs, while many of his policies are being challenged in the courts.
Countries have also independently made deals with the United States to reduce the severity of the tariffs.
According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, Trump’s tariffs are expected to generate $2.3 trillion over the next decade but cost the United States 0.8% of GDP and 825,000 jobs based on the nonprofits’ modeling.