Trump vows to take back ‘stolen’ wealth as tariffs on steel and aluminum imports go into effect

Trump vows to take back ‘stolen’ wealth as tariffs on steel and aluminum imports go into effect
US Trade Representative nominee Jamieson Greer called the European Union's economic policies "out of step with reality" after the bloc promised to strike back on Washington's sweeping steel and aluminum tariffs. (AFP)
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Updated 13 March 2025
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Trump vows to take back ‘stolen’ wealth as tariffs on steel and aluminum imports go into effect

Trump vows to take back ‘stolen’ wealth as tariffs on steel and aluminum imports go into effect
  • Trump’s use of tariffs to extract concessions from other nations points toward a possibly destructive trade war
  • It also has destabilized the stock market and stoked anxiety about an economic downturn

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump openly challenged US allies on Wednesday by increasing tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25 percent as he vowed to take back wealth “stolen” by other countries, drawing quick retaliation from Europe and Canada.
The Republican president’s use of tariffs to extract concessions from other nations points toward a possibly destructive trade war and a stark change in America’s approach to global leadership. It also has destabilized the stock market and stoked anxiety about an economic downturn.
“The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and, frankly, by incompetent US leadership,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re going to take back our wealth, and we’re going to take back a lot of the companies that left.”
Trump removed all exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on the metals, in addition to increasing the tariffs on aluminum from 10 percent. His moves, based off a February directive, are part of a broader effort to disrupt and transform global commerce.
He has separate tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting on April 2.
The EU announced its own countermeasures on Wednesday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that as the United States was “applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” or about $28 billion. Those measures, which cover not just steel and aluminum products but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods, are due to take effect on April 1.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer responded by saying that the EU was punishing America instead of fixing what he viewed as excess capacity in steel and aluminum production.
“The EU’s punitive action completely disregards the national security imperatives of the United States – and indeed international security – and is yet another indicator that the EU’s trade and economic policies are out of step with reality,” he said in a statement.

 

Meeting on Wednesday with Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Trump said “of course” he wants to respond to EU’s retaliations and “of course” Ireland is taking advantage of the United States.
“The EU was set up in order to take advantage of the United States,” Trump said.
Last year, the United States ran a $87 billion trade imbalance with Ireland. That’s partially because of the tax structure created by Trump’s 2017 overhaul, which incentivized US pharmaceutical companies to record their sales abroad, Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, said on X.
Canada sees itself as locked in a trade war because of White House claims about fentanyl smuggling and that its natural resources and factories subtract from the US economy instead of supporting it.
“This is going to be a day to day fight. This is now the second round of unjustified tariffs leveled against Canada,” said Mélanie Joly, Canada’s foreign affairs minister. “The latest excuse is national security despite the fact that Canada’s steel and aluminum adds to America’s security. All the while there is a threat of further and broader tariffs on April 2 still looming. The excuse for those tariffs shifts every day.”
Canada is the largest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States and plans to impose retaliatory tariffs of Canadian $29.8 billion ($20.7 billion) starting Thursday in response to the US taxes on the metals.
Canada’s new tariffs would be on steel and aluminum products, as well as US goods including computers, sports equipment and water heaters worth $14.2 billion Canadian ($9.9 billion). That’s in addition to the 25 percent counter tariffs on $30 billion Canadian ($20.8 billion) of imports from the US that were put in place on March 4 in response to other Trump import taxes that he’s partially delayed by a month.
Trump told CEOs in the Business Roundtable a day earlier that the tariffs were causing companies to invest in US factories. The 7.5 percent drop in the S&P 500 stock index over the past month on fears of deteriorating growth appears unlikely to dissuade him, as Trump argued that higher tariff rates would be more effective at bringing back factories.
“The higher it goes, the more likely it is they’re going to build,” Trump told the group. “The biggest win is if they move into our country and produce jobs. That’s a bigger win than the tariffs themselves, but the tariffs are going to be throwing off a lot of money to this country.”
Trump on Tuesday had threatened to put tariffs of 50 percent on steel and aluminum from Canada, but he chose to stay with the 25 percent rate after the province of Ontario suspended plans to put a surcharge on electricity sold to Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
Democratic lawmakers dismissed Trump’s claims that his tariffs are about national security and drug smuggling, saying they’re actually about generating revenues to help cover the cost of his planned income tax cuts for the wealthy.
“Donald Trump knows his policies could wreck the economy, but he’s doing it anyway,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. “Why are they doing all these crazy things that Americans don’t like? One reason, and one reason alone: tax breaks for billionaires, the north star of the Republican party’s goals.

In many ways, the president is addressing what he perceives as unfinished business from his first term. Trump meaningfully increased tariffs, but the revenues collected by the federal government were too small to significantly increase overall inflationary pressures.
Outside forecasts by the Budget Lab at Yale University, Tax Policy Center and others suggest that US families would have the costs of the taxes passed onto them in the form of higher prices.
With Wednesday’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, Trump is seeking to remedy his original 2018 import taxes that were eroded by exemptions.
After Canada and Mexico agreed to his demand for a revamped North American trade deal in 2020, they avoided the import taxes on the metals. Other US trading partners had import quotas supplant the tariffs. And the first Trump administration also allowed US companies to request exemptions from the tariffs if, for instance, they couldn’t find the steel they needed from domestic producers.
While Trump’s tariffs could help steel and aluminum plants in the United States, they could raise prices for the manufacturers that use the metals as raw materials.
Moreover, economists have found, the gains to the steel and aluminum industries were more than offset by the cost they imposed on “downstream’’ manufacturers that use their products.
At these downstream companies, production fell by nearly $3.5 billion because of the tariffs in 2021, a loss that exceeded the $2.3 billion uptick in production that year by aluminum producers and steelmakers, the US International Trade Commission found in 2023.
Trump sees the tariffs as leading to more domestic factories, and the White House has noted that Volvo, Volkswagen and Honda are all exploring an increase to their US footprint. But the prospect of higher prices, fewer sales and lower profits might cause some companies to refrain from investing in new facilities.
“If you’re an executive in the boardroom, are you really going to tell your board it’s the time to expand that assembly line?” said John Murphy, senior vice president at the US Chamber of Commerce.
The top steel exporters to the US are Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Korea and Japan, with exports from Taiwan and Vietnam growing at a fast pace, according to the International Trade Administration. Imports from China, the world’s largest steel producer, account for only a small fraction of what the US buys.
The lion’s share of US aluminum imports comes from Canada.


Tesla warns it could face retaliatory tariffs

Tesla warns it could face retaliatory tariffs
Updated 14 March 2025
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Tesla warns it could face retaliatory tariffs

Tesla warns it could face retaliatory tariffs
  • Tesla says it is important to ensure that the Trump administration’s efforts to address trade issues “do not inadvertently harm US companies.”

WASHINGTON: US automaker Tesla has warned that it and other major American exporters are exposed to retaliatory tariffs that could be leveled in response to President Donald Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs.
The Tesla comments reflect those of many US businesses concerned by Trump’s tariffs, but is notable because it is from Tesla.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, has been leading the White House effort to shrink the size of the federal government. The billionaire heads up the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
The comments were made in a letter to the US Trade Representative’s Office and available on the office’s web site. Dated Tuesday, it is among hundreds sent by companies to the office about US trade policy.
It is not clear who at Tesla wrote the letter, which is unsigned but is on a company letterhead. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Tesla says it is important to ensure that the Trump administration’s efforts to address trade issues “do not inadvertently harm US companies.”
It says it is eager to avoid retaliation of the type it faced in prior trade disputes, which resulted in increased tariffs on electric vehicles imported into countries subject to US tariffs.
“US exporters are inherently exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions,” Tesla said in the letter. “For example, past trade actions by the United States have resulted in immediate reactions by the targeted countries, including increased tariffs on EVs imported into those countries.”
Trump is considering imposing significant tariffs on vehicles and parts made around the world in early April.
Tesla warns that even with aggressive localization of the supply chain, “certain parts and components are difficult or impossible to source within the United States.”
The automaker adds that companies will “benefit from a phased approach that enables them to prepare accordingly and ensure appropriate supply chain and compliance measures are taken.”
“As a US manufacturer and exporter, Tesla encourages USTR to consider the downstream impacts of certain proposed actions taken to address unfair trade practices,” the EV maker says.
Autos Drive America, a trade group representing major foreign automakers including Toyota, Volkswagen , BMW, Honda and Hyundai , warned USTR in separate comments that imposing “broad-based tariffs will disrupt production at US assembly plants.”
The group added, “automakers cannot shift their supply chains overnight, and cost increases will inevitably lead to some combination of higher consumer prices, fewer models offered to consumers and shut-down US production lines, leading to potential job losses across the supply chain.”


More shots fired at Oregon Tesla dealership in ongoing vandalism since Musk began advising Trump

More shots fired at Oregon Tesla dealership in ongoing vandalism since Musk began advising Trump
Updated 14 March 2025
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More shots fired at Oregon Tesla dealership in ongoing vandalism since Musk began advising Trump

More shots fired at Oregon Tesla dealership in ongoing vandalism since Musk began advising Trump
  • The shooting caused extensive damage to cars and showroom windows, police said
  • Tesla has been a target for demonstrations and vandalism in the US and elsewhere this year

TIGARD, Oregon: Gunshots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Oregon on Thursday for the second time in a week in ongoing vandalism and protests around the country since CEO Elon Musk became a key figure in the Trump administration.
Around 4:15 a.m., more than a dozen shots were fired around the electric vehicle dealership in the Portland suburb of Tigard, according to the Tigard Police Department. The shooting caused extensive damage to cars and showroom windows, police said. No one was hurt.

A member of the Seattle Fire Department inspects a burned Tesla Cybertruck at a Tesla lot in Seattle on March 10, 2025. (AP Photo)

A similar shooting happened on March 6 at the same location. Police said they continue to work with federal partners at the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives to thoroughly investigate. An ATF explosive detection dog has been used after both shootings to help search for shell casings, police said.
Tesla has been a target for demonstrations and vandalism in the US and elsewhere this year. People have protested Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has been moving to slash the size of the federal government.
Police said over the weekend that six Tesla Cybertrucks at a dealership in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood were spray painted with swastikas and profanity directed at Musk, KING-TV reported.

Protesters demonstrate outside of a Tesla dealership in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 13, 2025, to protest Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s mass firing of federal government employees to advance President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” program. (AFP)

On Sunday, four Cybertrucks were destroyed in a blaze in Seattle, but investigators have not said if the fire, or fires, were intentionally set. On Tuesday, the Seattle Police Department said it was working with federal partners to investigate the incident.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was buying a new Tesla to show his support for Musk as the billionaire’s company struggles with sagging sales and declining stock prices.


All eyes on Democrats as US barrels toward shutdown deadline

All eyes on Democrats as US barrels toward shutdown deadline
Updated 14 March 2025
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All eyes on Democrats as US barrels toward shutdown deadline

All eyes on Democrats as US barrels toward shutdown deadline

WASHINGTON: The US government, already shaken by Donald Trump’s radical reforms, could begin shutting down entirely this weekend as Democrats grapple with the option of opposing the president’s federal funding plans — at the risk this blows up in their faces.
With a Friday night deadline to fund the government or allow it to start winding down its operations, the Senate is set for a crunch vote ahead of the midnight cut-off on a Trump-backed bill passed by the House of Representatives.
The package would keep the lights on through September, but Democrats are under immense pressure from their own grassroots to defy Trump and reject a text they say is full of harmful spending cuts.
“If it shuts down, it’s not the Republicans’ fault. We passed a bill... If there’s a shutdown, even the Democrats admit it will be their fault,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.
A handful of Democrats in Trump-supporting states — worried that they would be blamed over a stoppage with no obvious exit ramp — appear ready to incur the wrath of their own supporters by backing down.
But the vote remains on a knife edge, with many Democrats yet to reveal their decision.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who voted against a bill to avert a shutdown as recently as 18 months ago, urged the minority party to “put partisan politics aside and do the right thing.”
“When the government shuts down, you have government employees who are no longer paid, you have services that begin to lag. It brings great harm on the economy and the people,” he told Fox News.
The funding fight is focused on opposition to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), unofficially spearheaded by tech mega-billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk, which is working to dramatically reduce the size of the government.
DOGE aims to cut federal spending by $1 trillion this year and claims to have made savings so far of $115 billion through lease terminations, contract cancelations and firing federal workers.
Its online “wall of receipts” accounts for a tiny portion of that total, however, and US media outlets have found its website to be riddled with errors, misleading math and exaggerations.
Grassroots Democrats, infuriated by what they see as the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s lawless rampage through the federal bureaucracy, want their leaders to stand up to DOGE and Trump.
The funding bill is likely to need support from at least eight Democrats in the Senate, but its Republican authors ignored the minority party’s demands to protect Congress’s authority over the government’s purse strings and rein in Musk.
Washington progressive representative Pramila Jayapal told CNN there would be a “huge backlash” against Senate Democrats supporting the bill.
Several top Democrats have warned, however, that a shutdown could play into Musk’s hands, making further lay-offs easier and distracting from DOGE’s most unpopular actions, which just this week has included firing half the Education Department’s workforce.
“Now it’s a (bill) that we all agree we don’t like — but for me we can’t ever allow the government to shut down,” Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senator John Fetterman told CNN, warning that a recession could follow.
Republicans control 53 seats in the 100-member Senate.
Legislation in the upper chamber requires a preliminary ballot with a 60-vote threshold — designed to encourage bipartisanship — before final passage, which only needs a simple majority.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told his members privately on Thursday he will vote yes at the preliminary stage, according to congressional media outlet Punchbowl News.
He and Fetterman are the only Democrats committed to allowing the bill to move forward, and Schumer has not ordered his members to follow suit.
But others could cross the aisle if Republicans allow amendment votes on their legislative priorities.
Each would fail, but it is a face-saving exercise that would allow Democrats to tell their activists at home that they fought for their principles.
It is not clear however that this would shield them from the criticism that they bent the knee to Trump and Musk.


Duterte’s first ICC appearance set for Friday

Duterte’s first ICC appearance set for Friday
Updated 14 March 2025
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Duterte’s first ICC appearance set for Friday

Duterte’s first ICC appearance set for Friday
  • Former Philippines president faces crimes against humanity charges over his deadly war on drugs
  • The 79-year-old will appear before judges for a hearing where he will be informed of the crimes he is alleged to have committed.

THE HAGUE: Rodrigo Duterte’s first appearance at the International Criminal Court has been set for Friday, the court said, as the former Philippines president faces crimes against humanity charges over his deadly war on drugs.
“The Chamber considers it appropriate for the first appearance of Mr.Duterte to take place on Friday, 14 March 2025 at 14:00 hours (1300 GMT),” the court said in a statement late on Thursday.
The 79-year-old will appear before judges for a hearing where he will be informed of the crimes he is alleged to have committed, as well as his rights as a defendant.
Duterte stands accused of the crime against humanity of murder over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups said killed tens of thousands of people.
As he landed in The Hague, the former leader appeared to accept responsibility for his actions, saying in a Facebook video: “I have been telling the police, the military, that it was my job and I am responsible.”
Duterte’s stunning arrest in Manila came amid a spectacular meltdown in relations between his family and the Marcos family, who had previously joined forces to run the Philippines.
Current President Ferdinand Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte — Rodrigo’s daughter — are at loggerheads, with the latter facing an impeachment trial over charges including an alleged assassination plot against Marcos.
Sara Duterte is in The Netherlands to support her father, after labelling his arrest “oppression and persecution,” with the Duterte family having sought an emergency injunction from the Supreme Court to stop his transfer.
But victims of the “war on drugs” hope that Duterte will finally face justice for his alleged crimes.
Gilbert Andres, a lawyer representing victims of the drug war, told AFP: “My clients are very thankful to God because their prayers have been answered.”
“The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte is a great signal for international criminal justice. It means that no one is above the law,” Andres added.
The high-profile Duterte case also comes at a critical moment for the ICC, as it faces unprecedented pressure from all sides, including US sanctions.
Last month, US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the court over what he said were “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war.
Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan hailed Duterte’s arrest as a key moment for victims and international justice as a whole.
“Many say that international law is not as strong as we want, and I agree with that. But as I also repeatedly emphasize, international law is not as weak as some may think,” Khan said in a statement following Duterte’s arrival in ICC custody.
“When we come together... when we build partnerships, the rule of law can prevail. Warrants can be executed,” he said.
At the initial hearing, a suspect can request interim release pending a trial, according to ICC rules.
Following that first hearing, the next phase is a session to confirm the charges, at which point a suspect can challenge the prosecutor’s evidence.
Only after that hearing will the court decide whether to press ahead with a trial, a process that could take several months or even years.
“It’s important to underline, as we now start a new stage of proceedings, that Mr. Duterte is presumed innocent,” said Khan.


Southern African bloc ends military mission in DR Congo

Southern African bloc ends military mission in DR Congo
Updated 14 March 2025
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Southern African bloc ends military mission in DR Congo

Southern African bloc ends military mission in DR Congo

JOHANNESBURG: The southern African regional bloc decided on Thursday to end its military deployment to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where it lost more than a dozen soldiers in conflict in January.

The 16-nation Southern African Development Community, or SADC, decided at a virtual summit on the conflict in the area that has seen some three decades of unrest and claimed millions of lives.

The “summit terminated the mandate of SAMIDRC and directed the commencement of a phased withdrawal of SAMIDRC troops from the DRC,” it said in a statement at the end of the meeting.

The SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or SAMIDRC, — made up of soldiers from Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa — was sent to the region in December 2023 to help the government of the DRC, also SADC member, restore peace and security. South Africa lost 14 soldiers in the eastern DRC conflict in January. 

Most were from the SAMIDRC mission, but at least two were deployed as part of a separate UN peacekeeping mission.

Three Malawian troops in the SADC deployment were also killed, while Tanzania said two of its soldiers died in clashes.

Calls have been mounting in South Africa for the soldiers still in the DRC to be withdrawn, with reports that they are confined to their base by M23 fighters. Malawi in February, ordered its military to prepare for a withdrawal.