Trump: I will announce reciprocal tariffs on Tues or Wed

• Reciprocal tariffs will go into effect almost immediately
• Trump says he will announce 25% steel and aluminum tariffs on Monday
• Steel and aluminum tariffs to apply to all countries
• Nippon Steel can’t have a majority stake in US Steel

There is usually a process for this so we will see how it actually shakes down.

For instance, in 2017, the steel and aluminum tariffs under Section 232 required an investigation that started on April 20, 2017 and it wasn’t until March 1, 2018 that they went into effect. Now he could argue the old investigation still applies but that could face challenges in court because the investigation requires action within 90 days.

Update: I asked trade expert Brad Setser about this and he said a new investigation isn’t needed.

“[They’re] not needed; the current 232 is ‘live’ and the tariffs can be adjusted subject to the caveat that the adjustments need to be related to the goal of assuring sufficient domestic steel and aluminum production to meet the national security objective. [I] Forget if any changes need to go out for notice and comment, or whether they can just be introduced overnight … would be in the statute tho. but no need for a new investigation; both Trump (1) and Biden modified the remedy under the initial 232 w/o legal problem.”

More:

• Expects to have ‘many more’ conversations with Putin; notes that they spoke already but wouldn’t say when
• Says he is committed to buying and owning Gaza, may give sections to other Middle East states to rebuild it
• We maybe have less debt than we though, questions whether there is fraud related to US Treasuries

Here I was thinking we might have a quiet start to the new week; how naive.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.