Trump issues ‘non-tariff cheating’ warning

US President Donald Trump on Sunday issued an eight-point ‘non-tariff cheating’ list, warning countries of non-tariff-related offences that could spoil relations with the US.

The warning came days after Trump announced a 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs on all countries, barring China.

In the eight-point list, Trump mentioned currency manipulation - an accusation he has made previously on some countries for deliberately devaluing their currencies to make their exports more competitive while making US products costlier abroad. Another warning is about Value-Added Taxes (VATs) that are applied to imports but refunded on exports in many nations.

The Republican leader also warned countries of dumping below cost, export and other government subsidies, protective agricultural standards, counterfeiting, piracy, and IP theft, and transshipping to evade tariffs.

He also warned of protective technical standards, citing Japan’s ‘bowling ball test’ - a claim Trump made first in 2018.

According to Trump, Japan uses a so-called “bowling ball test” to cheat US auto companies out of selling cars to Japanese consumers. “They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and drop it on the hood of the car. If the hood dents, the car doesn’t qualify. It’s horrible,” he had said.

On April 9, Trump announced a 90-day pause on his sweeping tariffs on all countries, barring China - a move that had seemed nearly impossible. According to Trump, who had introduced the slew of tariffs to address the alleged trade imbalance with the US, over 75 countries had negotiated and not retaliated against him - which led to the pause. During the 90 days, a significantly reduced reciprocal tariff of just 10 per cent would be in effect, he said.

A growing alarm inside the Treasury Department over the developments in the bond market was reportedly the only factor that made Trump hit a pause on his reciprocal tariff regime._NDTV