Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Australia’s Anthony Albanese have criticized US President Donald Trump for imposing import tariffs on products from around the world.
Meloni called the 20% tariff rate on the European Union “wrong”, while Albanese deemed the 10% tax on Australia’s goods “unjustified.”
Trump’s announcement includes a 10% baseline tariff on all imports into the US from April 5th, with steeper tariffs for around 60 countries, including the EU and China, starting April 9th.
Trump believes these measures will “make America rich again” and claims to have been “very kind” in his decisions.
Meloni, who supports Trump, stated that the EU tariffs would not benefit either party, but she aims to work towards a deal with the US to avoid a trade war.
Pedro Sánchez of Spain vowed to protect companies and workers while remaining committed to an open world.
Simon Harris from Ireland expressed readiness to negotiate with the US, calling it the best way forward, while Micheál Martin criticized Trump’s decision as regrettable and not beneficial to anyone.
Outside of the EU, Australia’s Albanese warned that Americans would suffer from unjustified tariffs but stated that his government would not retaliate.
China, labeled one of the worst offenders by Trump, faces a 54% tax rate on its goods.
An opinion piece from China’s Xinhua news agency criticized Washington’s actions as self-defeating and a simplistic tit-for-tat game.
White House officials defended the tariffs as reciprocal to countries like China that charge higher tariffs on US goods or impose barriers to US trade.
Brazil passed a law, the Economic Reciprocity Law, to counter Trump’s tariff, evaluating actions to ensure fair bilateral trade through the World Trade Organization.
South Korea acknowledged the reality of a global trade war and promised to find solutions to overcome it.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned against retaliation, emphasizing that escalation would occur if countries respond with countermeasures.
Canada and Mexico were not mentioned in Wednesday’s announcements, as the White House plans to address them based on previous executive orders regarding tariffs on fentanyl and border issues.
Despite this, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed concern that the tariffs, including a 25% tax on automobiles, would impact millions of Canadians and fundamentally change the global trading system.
He pledged to fight the tariffs with countermeasures to protect Canadian interests.