Trump has once again drawn his go-to diplomatic weapon — tariffs, this time to coerce Iranian government to end crackdown on protests.
Washington: President Donald Trump has once again drawn his go-to diplomatic weapon — tariffs, this time to coerce the Iranian government to end its bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
Trump said in a social media post on Monday he would impose a 25% tax on imports to the United States from countries that do business with Iran. The sanctions could hurt the Islamic Republic by reducing its access to foreign goods and driving up prices, which would likely inflame tensions in a country where inflation is running above 40%.
But the tariffs could create blowback for the United States, too, potentially raising the prices Americans pay for imports from Iranian trade partners such as Turkish textiles and Indian gemstones and threatening an uneasy trade truce Trump reached last year with China.
The death toll from protests in Iran surpassed 2,000 people on Tuesday, activists said, as the hard-line Islamist government attempts to tamp down dissent against economic hardship and political repression.
The Trump administration has offered scant details since announcing the new tariffs targeting Iran. For instance, the White House has not said whether the taxes would be stacked on top of double-digit levies Trump imposed last year on almost every country on earth. Or whether he would exempt some energy imports as he has in the past.
