Imports of oil, gas and refined products are not on the list of major new tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, the White House announced.
The exemption will ease concerns from the US refining industry, which has expressed concern that the new tariffs could disrupt supplies and raise prices for all petrochemical products produced by Midwestern refineries that use Canadian crude oil and European gasoline and diesel cargoes on the US East Coast.
Trump announced late last night that he is imposing a basic tariff of 10 percent on all goods transported into his country and is increasing tariffs on dozens of countries.
The volume of energy exemptions does not include those from Canada and Mexico, which are already protected by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (the new version of the former North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA), the White House announced.
Canada and Mexico are the largest importers of crude oil to the US, while Europe is an important supplier of fuels to the US East Coast, where there is a lack of refineries to process petroleum products.
Tariffs on all other goods from Canada and Mexico remain unchanged under Trump’s new executive order.
The new customs duties announced concern all types of goods – from automobiles to laptops.
Twenty-five percent tariffs on automobile imports amount to nearly $600 billion in terms of payments and apply to both foreign-made vehicles and auto parts.
The updated version of the tariffs for the auto industry that Trump released last week includes nearly 150 types of auto parts that will be subject to tariffs starting May 3, exactly one month after the 25 percent tariffs on automobile imports went into effect at midnight today.
The compensations relate to motors, converters, lithium-ion batteries and other important components.
The serious surprise is the inclusion in the expanded list of products for customs clearance of all types of computers, which are one of the most imported goods in the US. Last year alone, the US imported computers worth $138,5 billion, US statistics show.
