US President Donald Trump has once again shocked the world with his aggressive tariff attack. Trump has announced to increase the tariff on imports from South Korea from 15% to 25%. This decision has come at a time when a ‘historic free trade deal’ was agreed upon between the two countries only last year.

While posting on social media, Trump directly targeted the Parliament of South Korea. He wrote that the Korean Parliament has not yet implemented the trade deal which was agreed upon between the Presidents of the two countries. For this reason, America will now impose 25% duty on automobile, wood, pharma and all other ‘reciprocal tariffs’.

Free trade deal in vain?

Actually in July donald trump claimed a trade deal with the South Korean president was formally finalized during his visit to Asia in October. Under this deal, South Korea had promised to invest $350 billion in America and in return America had agreed to reduce the tariff to 15%. In November, both the governments had also released a fact sheet to implement this agreement.

But now Trump says that the delay on the part of the Korean Parliament forced America to take this strict step.

Americans struggling with inflation, yet tariffs increased

This decision of Trump has come at a time when he is already under domestic pressure regarding inflation and rising cost of living. According to recent research, The burden of tariffs falls almost entirely on American consumers. But it is lying there. Despite this, Trump is continuously using import duty as a weapon.

South Korea is a big trade partner of America. Every year America imports about 150 billion dollars worth of goods from South Korea and it is included in America’s top-10 import sources.

Record of threats and U-turns

This is not the first time that Trump has given a strict warning regarding tariffs. Earlier, threats have been made to Canada, European countries and even Switzerland to increase tariffs, many of which were not implemented. Recently, Trump even said that he imposed higher tariffs on Switzerland because the President there treated him ‘unfairly’.

questions on trust

The legality of Trump’s extensive tariff agenda is also being heard in the US Supreme Court. A court decision may come in the coming weeks, which may affect the future of Trump’s trade policy.

The decision to increase tariffs on South Korea despite the trade deal has raised a big question. If America can take unilateral decisions even after the agreement, then which country will trust American promises in the future? This step of Trump not only deals a blow to US-Korea relations, but also raises questions about America’s credibility in the global trade system.



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