China, Japan, and South Korea unite against new US tariffs
China, Japan, and South Korea will jointly respond to U.S. tariffs, reports Reuters, citing Chinese state media. The new United States tariffs are set to take effect on April 2.
Comments from state media appeared after the three countries held their first economic dialogue in five years on Sunday, aimed at facilitating regional trade. The Asian export powers are facing the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Reuters reports.
The agency adds that Japan and South Korea plan to import raw materials for semiconductor production from China, and China is also interested in purchasing chip products from Japan and South Korea.
When asked about reports concerning a joint response to the tariffs, a spokesman for the South Korean trade ministry said, "the suggestion that there was a joint response to US tariffs appears to have been somewhat exaggerated."
Japan's trade minister, Yoji Muto, when asked about this at a press conference on Tuesday, said that a trade ministers' meeting was held over the weekend, but no such discussions took place. Muto stated the meeting was merely an exchange of views, Reuters reports.
Trump announces more tariffs
Donald Trump recently announced that on April 2, he will impose a 25% tariff on all cars and light trucks imported from abroad. The current rate is 2.5%.
The Head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated, however, that the EU will not ignore this decision by Donald Trump. "Tariffs are taxes – bad for businesses, worse for consumers equally in the US and the European Union," she assessed. She assured that the Union will seek solutions through negotiations while protecting its economic interests.
Canada has also announced its response to the upcoming tariffs imposed by the U.S. "We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country," emphasized Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
"If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had," Donald Trump announced on the Truth Social platform.
