President Trump on Friday directed all U.S. businesses to immediately find alternative sources for any goods they were importing from China. The comments came in response to China’s announcement earlier in the day that it was enacting additional tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods.
“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA,” Trump tweeted, adding, “I will be responding to China’s Tariffs this afternoon.”
It was not clear from the tweets what precisely Trump meant by “ordered” or how he intended to enforce this directive. Nor did he offer any details on what the planned response to China’s tariffs response would be.
The White House has placed 25% tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and is scheduled to place 10% tariffs on a further $300 billion a week from now if a trade deal is not reached with China.
Beijing announced Friday that it would put tariffs of 5% and 10% on American goods in two stages, the first beginning on Sept. 1 and the second on Dec. 15. It will also place a 25% tariff on American automobiles and a 5% duty on auto parts, starting mid-December.
