The Trump administration has struck new trade deals with Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Ecuador, a senior administration official told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The agreements are designed to open the four countries’ markets to U.S. goods and address certain non-tariff barriers, the official said. The deals come as a significant portion of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration faces the risk of being struck down by the Supreme Court.
The tariff rates for El Salvador, Argentina, and Guatemala, which have trade deficits with the U.S., will remain at 10%, according to the official. Goods from Ecuador, which has a small surplus, will be subject to a 15% levy.
Reciprocal tariffs on exports from these countries to the U.S. will be removed for “certain qualifying exports that cannot be grown, mined, or naturally produced in the United States in sufficient quantities,” according to the White House.
Such goods include coffee, cocoa, and bananas — whose prices have skyrocketed in the last year — and certain textile and apparel products, the official noted.
“With all of these deals — the ones in Asia, the ones we’re announcing today — we maintain the tariff, we get some tariff relief on certain products or goods. But at the same time, we open up foreign markets in ways that they have not been open before,” the official said. “Overall, we have a global trade deficit we’re trying to get down.”
The agreements are expected to be finalized and signed within the next two weeks, according to the official.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 5, the Supreme Court heard arguments over whether Trump exceeded his authority in imposing the “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, which set a baseline 10% duty on imports with increasing rates depending on the country. Unlike Trump’s tariffs on commodities such as steel and aluminum, these measures were enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the president says allows him to impose tariffs despite it never having been used for that purpose before.
The president has warned that striking down these IEEPA-based tariffs could result in an economic and national security “disaster” for the country.
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