President Trump is considering imposing a 25 percent tariff on international lumber and wood products, looking to add another item to an expanding list of products under duties.
“I’m going to be announcing tariffs on cars and semiconductors and chips and pharmaceuticals, drugs and pharmaceuticals and lumber, probably, and some other things over the next month or sooner,” Trump said Wednesday at the FII Priority Summit.
“It’s gonna have a big impact on America, We are bringing our businesses back. If they don’t make their product in America then they will very simply have to pay a tariff, but if they do make their product in America, they don’t have to pay any tariff,” he added.
While traveling back to Washington on Wednesday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was thinking about imposing the 25 percent rate in April.
Earlier this week, Trump indicated he was also looking to implement a 25 percent tariff on automobiles, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals in April, a rate that could increase over the year.
“But we want to give them time to come in,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. “Because as you know when they come into the United States and they have their plant or factory here, there is no tariff. So we want to give them a little bit of a chance.”
The president has campaigned on reviving the U.S. economy and manufacturing by, in part, relying on tariffs. He has acted on it since taking office despite some economists warning that such decisions could spike the prices of goods for Americans.
He introduced a 25 percent tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico, levies he postponed for a month after speaking to the nations’ leadership and increased attention to curb the influx of drugs over the borders.
Last week, Trump penned a memorandum to propose reciprocal tariffs that will be adjusted for every trading partner. They will not be immediately imposed, but the president has directed his administration to explore how the proposal would look for each country.
The commander-in-chief also signed off on new levies on steel and aluminum imports at 25 percent earlier this month.
