Prime Minister Hun Manet has explained how the US increase in import tariffs on goods demonstrates that the US has been and continues to incur significant losses from importing goods from many countries around the world, as reflected through its trade deficit.
“He noted that this is why the administration of President Donald Trump announced the imposition of “reciprocal tariffs” on countries with which the US has a trade deficit,” said press release which detailed the outcomes of today’s April 4 Cabinet meeting.
On April 2, Trump announced that he would raise tariffs on goods imported from Cambodia by 49%, due to the significant trade deficit gap between the US and Cambodia. Cambodia exports a much large monetary volume to the US than it imports, by a substantial margin.
“The Royal Government of Cambodia will negotiate with the US to find an appropriate solution. The prime minister conceded that this issue will inevitably have some impact on Cambodia, but will not be as severe as certain individuals on social media have exaggerated and tried to incite fear over. In this regard, he appealed to the public to remain calm and trust the Royal Government in resolving this matter,” added the release.
Two of the Kingdom’s neighbouring countries, Laos and Vietnam, are facing tariff rates of 48% and 46% respectively, due to the US having a trade deficit of 95% with Laos and 90% with Vietnam.
“The imposition of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ is not a response to the import tariffs that these countries have placed on goods from the US. In addition, the new tariffs only account for 50% of the trade deficit that the US has with these countries,” noted the release.