Nikhil Aiyush Kumar 
As United States President Donald Trump affirms his pre-election promises to impose a 25 percent tariff on goods coming in from countries like Canada, Mexico and China, tensions are rising of an all-out trade war in the coming days.
Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica says they will continue to engage with the United States directly on numerous fronts.
He says it is too early to comment on the implications of the tariffs that will come into effect from Wednesday.
“Of course, perhaps the tariffs, everybody is watching with concern from Fiji’s point may be too early to say what’s going to happen, like i have been saying we will see what the decisions are and it is a new government with President Trump”
Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica
Kamikamica states that as of now there are no immediate material impacts that Fiji will face because of the tariff hikes.
Many democracies around the world are bracing for the worse with the likely impacts of a trade war looming.
Associate Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics Thomas Sampson countries particularly in Europe are bracing with bated breaths of more strenuous policies.
“And then perhaps most importantly, we don’t know whether this is a limited action just focused on these countries or whether this is the start of a broader trade war that Trump intends to engage in with the rest of the world and with the UK and Europe, for example. So there will be, I think, a lot of nervous diplomats in London and Brussels today wondering if we’re next to face Trump tariffs.”
The US President in less than two weeks into his second White House term, defended the tariffs as necessary to curb illegal immigration and the drug trade.
