Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs
Record date: 2025-02-19
( printed page 9837) Memorandum of February 13, 2025 Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs Memorandum for the Secretary of the Treasury[,] the Secretary of Commerce[,] the Secretary of Homeland Security[,] the Director of the Office of Management and Budget[,] the United States Trade Representative[,] the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy[, and] the Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1 . Background
What this record contains
- Federal Register document
- 2025-02872
- Publication date
- 2025-02-19
- Citation
- 90 FR 9837
- Issuing office
- Executive Office of the President
Official record excerpt
( printed page 9837) Memorandum of February 13, 2025 Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs Memorandum for the Secretary of the Treasury[,] the Secretary of Commerce[,] the Secretary of Homeland Security[,] the Director of the Office of Management and Budget[,] the United States Trade Representative[,] the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy[, and] the Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1 . Background . The United States has one of the most open economies and has among the lowest average weighted tariff rates in the world. The United States imposes fewer barriers to imports than other major world economies, including those with similar political and economic systems. For many years, the United States has been treated unfairly by trading partners, both friend and foe. This lack of reciprocity is one source of our country's large and persistent annual trade deficit in goods—closed markets abroad reduce United States exports and open markets at home result in significant imports. Our workers and industries bear the brunt of unfair practices and limited access to foreign markets. As noted in the Presidential Memorandum of January 20, 2025 (America First Trade Policy Memorandum), this situation is untenable. The trade deficit of the United States threatens our economic and national security, has hollowed out our industrial base, has reduced our overall national competitiveness, and has made our Nation dependent on other countries to meet our key security needs. By making trade more reciprocal and balanced, we can reduce the trade deficit; grow the United States economy; and improve our trade relationships with trading partners to the benefit of American workers, manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, and businesses. Sec. 2 . Policy . It is the policy of the United States to reduce our large and persistent annual trade deficit in goods and to address other unfair and unbalanced aspects of our trade with foreign trading partners. In pursuit of this policy, I will introduce the “Fair and Reciprocal Plan”(Plan). Under the Plan, my Administration will work strenuously to counter non-reciprocal trading arrangements with trading partners by determining the equivalent of a reciprocal tariff with respect to each foreign trading partner. This approach will be of comprehensive scope, examining non-reciprocal trade relationships with all United States trading partners, including any: (a) tariffs imposed on United States products; (b) unfair, discriminatory, or extraterritorial taxes imposed by our trading partners on United States businesses, workers, and consumers, including a value-added tax; (c) costs to United States businesses, workers, and consumers arising from nontariff barriers or measures and unfair or harmful acts, policies, or practices, including subsidies, and burdensome regulatory requirements on United States businesses operating in other countries; (d) policies and practices that cause exchange rates to deviate from their market value, to the detriment of Americans; wage suppression; and other ( printed page 9838) mercantilist policies that make United States businesses and workers less competitive; and (e) any other practice that, in the judgment of the United States Trade Representative, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing, imposes any unfair limitation on market access or any structural impediment to fair competition with the market economy of the United States. The Plan shall ensure comprehensive fairness and balance across the international trading system by factoring in losses as a result of measures that disadvantage the United States as applied, regardless of what they are called or whether they are written or unwritten. Sec. 3 . Taking Action . (a) After the submission of the specified agency reports due under the America First Trade Policy Memorandum, the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, the Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing, and the heads of such other executive departments and agencies as the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative deem relevant, shall initiate, pursuant to their respective legal authorities,
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Questions for accountability
- Which products, countries and tariff rates were affected?
- Who legally pays the duty and how were costs distributed?
- Did later orders, courts or negotiations change the policy?
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