Trump says Americans could feel 'pain' in trade war with Mexico, Canada and China
President Donald Trump said on Sunday the sweeping tariffs that he has imposed on Mexico, Canada and China may cause "short-term" pain for Americans as global markets reflected concerns the levies could undermine growth and reignite inflation.
Trump said he would talk on Monday with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, which have announced retaliatory tariffs of their own, but downplayed expectations that they would change his mind.
"I don't expect anything dramatic," Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. "They owe us a lot of money, and I'm sure they're going to pay."
He also said tariffs would "definitely happen" with the European Union, but did not say when.
Critics say the Republican president's plan to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on China will slow global growth and drive prices higher for Americans.
Trump says they are needed to curb immigration and narcotics trafficking and spur domestic industries.
"We may have short term some little pain, and people understand that. But long term, the United States has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world," he said.
Financial market reaction was not positive. U.S. stock futures slumped in early Asian trading, with Nasdaq futures down 2.35%, S&P 500 futures 1.8% lower. U.S. oil prices jumped more than $2, while gasoline futures jumped more than 3%.
North American companies braced for new duties which could upend industries from autos to consumer goods to energy.
Trump's tariffs will cover almost half of all U.S. imports and would require the United States to more than double its own manufacturing output to cover the gap - an unfeasible task in the near term, ING analysts wrote.
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