US President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center on December 22, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Rebecca Noble | Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump is considering a plan that would still apply tariffs to all nations, but would narrow the focus on a select set of goods and services, according to Washington Post report.
The new approach to tariffs would probably not be as powerful as Trump’s earlier ideas, but would still cause major changes in global trade, the paper said, citing people familiar with Trump’s thinking.
Trump, however, disputed the report in the post on Truth Social.
“The story in the Washington Post, citing so-called anonymous sources, which do not exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be reduced. That is wrong,” he wrote.
The report comes amid concerns that the incoming president’s insistence on imposing universal tariffs of 10% or 20% and specifically targeting China and Mexico could cause another spike in inflation.
During Trump’s first term, tariffs on a wide range of imports did not have much of a price-increasing effect and actually remained in place when Joe Biden assumed the position of president. However, economists are concerned that conditions are different now and that aggressive tariffs would have a greater effect.
The Post report states that it is still unclear which sectors these plans will affect, although initial discussions include various industrial metals, medical supplies and energy.
The US has a $74 billion monthly trade deficit that exploded during the Covid pandemic.
