US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he has shown "flexibility" on his tariff policy, as he rejected claims that he has been inconsistent on his policy implementation as seen in his delay in the imposition of tariffs on many imports from Canada and Mexico until early next month.
Trump made the remarks in response to a reporter's question about his administration's tariffs being "on and off" with "some inconsistency," as he met with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin at the White House.
"It's called flexibility. It's not called inconsistency," Trump argued, stressing that he has "the right to adjust."
He went on to say, "I'll always have flexibility, but there will be very little flexibility once we start."
The president reiterated that April 2 will be a "very big day" for the United States in reference to his plan to impose country-by-country "reciprocal" tariffs on US imports on the day, which will be pegged to trading partners' duties, non-tariff barriers and other factors.
"The United States of America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries and by frankly incompetent US leadership, grossly incompetent," he said.
Last Thursday, Trump signed executive actions to delay tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods, covered under a trilateral free trade agreement, better known as USMCA until April 2 -- a reprieve that followed negotiations with the two neighboring countries.
The reprieve came after 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods -- with a carve-out for Canadian energy to be taxed at 10 percent -- went into effect days earlier.
On Tuesday morning, Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50 percent, but reversed it hours later -- a move that came after Ontario agreed to suspend a 25 percent surcharge on its electricity exports to the US. (Yonhap)
