Trump denies that his team is studying reducing tariff plans

The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, on Monday denied a journalistic report that his advisers were exploring tariff plans that would only cover critical imports.

“The story in Washington Postciting supposed anonymous sources, which do not exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy is going to be cut. That's false. He Washington Post he knows it's fake. “It's just another example of Fake News,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

He postciting three sources familiar with the matter, first reported that Trump's advisers were exploring tariff plans that would apply to all countries, but that would only cover certain sectors considered critical to national or economic security, in what would represent a marked change in campaign promises.

European stock markets and currencies had rebounded strongly on Monday after the newspaper's information.

Trump, a Republican who will take office on Jan. 20, had pledged to impose 10% tariffs on global imports to the United States, along with a 60% tariff on Chinese goods, rates that trade experts say , would disrupt trade flows, raise costs and provoke retaliation against US exports.

According to the newspaper, the plans are in the process of being drawn up and have not yet been finalized.

It was not clear which sectors the tariffs would target.

Preliminary discussions have largely focused on several key sectors that Trump's team wants to bring back to the United States, sources told The Washington Post.

“Those include the defense industrial supply chain (through tariffs on steel, iron, aluminum and copper); critical medical supplies (syringes, needles, vials and pharmaceutical materials); and energy production (batteries, rare earth minerals and even solar panels),” two of the people said, according to the American media.

Reuters reported last month that a Trump transition team document recommended imposing tariffs on all electric battery materials globally in an attempt to boost U.S. production and then negotiate individual exemptions with allies.

It called for imposing tariffs on imports from the “electric vehicle supply chain,” including batteries, critical minerals and charging components.

The proposal to which you had access Reuters It stated that the government should use Section 232 tariffs, which focus on national security threats, to limit imports of these types of products.

In recent years, the Defense Department has highlighted America's strategic vulnerabilities due to China's dominance in the extraction and refining of critical minerals, such as graphite and lithium needed for batteries, and rare earth metals. used in the engines of electric vehicles and military aircraft.