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08:00, 03-Mar-2018
IMF warns that planned US tariffs will likely hurt economies
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged countries to resolve trade disputes without resorting to retaliatory measures.
The IMF was responding on Friday to a plan by the US to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum products that President Donald Trump says are designed to safeguard American jobs in the face of cheaper foreign products.
The agency said the move would likely cause economic damage to the United States and its trading partners but did not elaborate on the extent of the anticipated impact.
“The import restrictions announced by the US President (Donald Trump) are likely to cause damage not only outside the US but also to the US economy itself, including to its manufacturing and construction sectors, which are major users of aluminum and steel,” the IMF said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump speaks on steel and aluminum tariffs during a meeting with industry leaders in the cabinet room of the White House, March 1, 2018, in Washington. /VCG Photo
US President Donald Trump speaks on steel and aluminum tariffs during a meeting with industry leaders in the cabinet room of the White House, March 1, 2018, in Washington. /VCG Photo
The European Union has raised the possibility of taking countermeasures against the US, France said the duties would be unacceptable and China urged Trump to show restraint. Canada, the biggest supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States, said it would retaliate if hit by US tariffs.
The IMF is currently in the midst of updating its global economic forecasts ahead of the April meetings of its 189 member countries.
“We are concerned that the measures proposed by the US will, de facto, expand the circumstances where countries use the national-security rationale to justify broad-based import restrictions,” IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in the statement.
Source(s): Reuters