Bloomberg News reported on the 14th (local time), citing anonymous sources, that US President-elect Donald Trump’s team is discussing detailed plans to impose ‘universal tariffs’.
According to Bloomberg News, the candidate was to gradually increase universal tariffs by 2 to 5 percentage points every month and impose tariffs based on the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) without revising the law. IEEPA grants the president the authority to broadly control economic activities, including trade with foreign countries, when a national emergency occurs that threatens U.S. security, diplomacy, or the economy.
This plan, which is currently in the early stages of planning, was reported at a meeting involving Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent, White House National Economic Council (NEC) nominee Kevin Hassett, and White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) nominee Stephen Miron. However, it is said that it has not yet been reported to President-elect Trump.
It is known that there are differences of opinion among the staff regarding the universal tariff pledge. According to CNN, Treasury Secretary Bessent, who is from the hedge fund industry, is effectively acknowledging that it may be realistically difficult to apply universal tariffs to all items imported into the United States for reasons such as the cost burden. Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Rutnick also supported using universal tariffs as a “negotiation tactic” rather than actually introducing them. On the other hand, President-elect Trump’s closest associates, including Peter Navarro, support the introduction of universal tariffs.
The staff is reviewing various possibilities regarding how to realize universal tariffs. On the 6th, the Washington Post (WP) reported, citing an anonymous source, that President-elect Trump is considering applying universal tariffs only to some items related to security, such as steel. However, President-elect Trump immediately refuted TruthSocial, saying, “The anonymous source cited by WP does not exist and the report is ‘fake news.’”
Reporter Lee Ji-yoon [email protected]
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