Larry Kudrow pushed US Treasury Scott Bescent on Fox Business on Monday on the rationale behind the tariff rates imposed by President Donald Trump.
Trump declared a national emergency on Wednesday to enforce mutual tariffs on countries that impose import charges on the US, dubbing the “liberation day” move and setting a baseline tariff rate of 10%. On Monday’s episode of “Kudrow,” the host asked about the consistency of the global tariff strategy, citing the European Union’s tariff proposal.
“Rally, we can say there may be nearly 50, 60, maybe 70 countries that are approaching us. So, it will be April, May, maybe June. And Japan is a very important military alliance.” “They are very important economic allies. And the US has a lot of history with them. So I expect Japan to be prioritized just because they have made it very quickly. But it will be very busy. And when President Trump achieves the biggest leverage again, he wants to start talking.”
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Kudlow pointed to a discrepancy between the International Trade Bureau’s reported average tariff rate of 4.3% and the 46% rate shown on Trump’s chart, and calculated tariffs based on trade obstacles. (Related: Former GOP president economist says the US needs a big trade deficit)
“We looked at the International Trade Bureau. It shows Japan with an average tariff of 4.3%. But the chart that President Trump gave last week showed the so-called mutual claim off. Japan is 46%. Now we know how to use the trade deficit as the share of imports to reach 46%, but that’s not all. That’s a lot higher than 4.3.”
“One of the reasons why President Trump cut the numbers in half was because of what you just said. Academic research shows that having free and fair access to these markets is a real problem in the US, a non-tariff trade barrier. Thinking about that, I think China’s rate is 5%. Bescent asked. “It can be tested on a car. It could be a GMO binding on food. Now, I buy $3 billion a year of Australian beef, but I can’t export it to them. There are a lot of Japanese trade barriers. There’s a very productive negotiation with the Japanese.”
Trump list Customs Foreign imports include the highest rates in China, facing US 34% tariffs, in response to 67% collection on American goods. Additional charges will be imposed on countries such as Israel, the UK, Brazil, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan, with tariffs exceeding the baseline that is expected to take effect on April 9th.
China’s Treasury Department announced Friday that it will impose a 34% tariff on all US imports starting April 10th and will retaliate against similar collections of Trump’s Chinese products. Following Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement, the US stock market has seen a major recession.
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