Donald Trump has held off on tariffs during his first day as the president of the United States and is placing a big bet that his executive actions can cut energy prices and tame inflation. But it’s unclear whether his orders will be enough to move the US economy as he promises.As a candidate, Trump had promised to levy 10 to 20 percent tariffs on all imports and up to 60 percent on imports from China. He had also threatened to impose 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico if they fail to clamp down on the flow of illicit drugs and migrants entering the US illegally.
Those threats did not materialise on Monday, Day 1 of his taking office, but that doesn’t mean they’ve gone away, experts warned.
Trump announced the creation of an External Revenue Service “to collect all tariffs, fees and revenues. It will be a substantial sum of money from foreign sources,” he said in his inaugural speech.
“He chose not to do a kneejerk tariff move today that could then be negotiated away, but the Trump administration and Republican Party goals for tariff revenues suggest that the tariff threat is still out there,” Rachel Ziemba …
