(Yahoo!Finance) - Donald Trump's rapid reorientation of the US trade landscape has a busy week ahead, and he could simultaneously make moves on three fronts as importers, CEOs, and foreign leaders struggle to adjust.
The uncertainty has been heightened as crucial details remain unclear but with the president promising "highly detailed" announcements in the days ahead.
Up first this week is a newly announced plan for 25% duties on steel and aluminum, which Trump told reporters Sunday would be announced today.
The president is set to sign new executive orders at 1 p.m. ET, and he said his tariff plans will apply to all imports. However, it remains to be seen how these new duties overlap with existing metal tariffs.
Coming later in the week are Trump-promised reciprocal tariffs, which he said will be official on Tuesday or Wednesday and are designed to equalize trade imbalances around the world. Open questions there linger on how they could be implemented and what it all could mean for countries that currently charge the US low tariffs.
Those moves this week come amid an ongoing trade war with China over issues of illegal drugs and migration that escalated over the weekend and could soon include Canada and Mexico.
"This is the next four years," Doug Ford, the premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, said. Ford called Trump's pronouncements this past weekend the latest in "shifting goalposts and constant chaos, putting our economy at risk."
Canada is a key nation caught in the crosscurrents, with blanket duties looming and the country also a major provider of steel to the US.
Up first this week: new duties on steel and aluminum
The next front, expected in the coming hours, is the formal announcement of new steel and aluminum tariffs.
The question is how they will interact with current duties.
In 2018, Trump moved to impose 25% tariffs on steel and 10% duties on aluminum during his first term. China was a main target then, and many of those tariffs remain in place; it is unclear whether the nation will now face double tariffs.
A range of other nations, from South Korea to Australia and many more, secured steel exemptions last time around. But Trump sounds much less open to carve-outs this time.
"Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25% tariff," Trump said on Sunday. "Aluminum too."
Another key question is timing. If Trump moves on metal under the same authority he invoked in 2018, he could face a wait of at least a few weeks or months before the tariffs will be fully in place because of requirements like a public comment period.
But the fact that Trump went through the process in his first term — notably the lengthy months-long Commerce Department review process — could speed things up and allow him to move relatively quickly.
A complex range of other fronts
After promising clarity on steel and aluminum, Trump vowed to quickly follow with his plan for reciprocal tariffs.
He said he will announce the details at a news conference on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the concept is "very simply, ... if they charge us, we charge them."
But again, key details remain to be fleshed out, including exactly how they will work and whether Trump will also be willing to entertain lowering tariffs reciprocally.
Data gathered by Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute underlined that the US currently is about average among industrialized nations when it comes to overall tariff levels. That means a true reciprocal trading system would mean lowering duties on a host of countries.
On the other side of the coin, close US allies like India and South Korea could see significant tariff increases in a reciprocal trade situation.
Trump’s allies have long focused on India, in particular, with Trump’s National Economic Council director, Kevin Hassett, underlining in a CNBC television appearance on Monday morning that the country has "enormously high" rates on US goods.
All Trump has offered so far is that his reciprocal plans "will be great for everybody."
Another key question on the reciprocal tariff idea is implementation.
Professor Henry Gao, an international trade expert, noted online this past weekend that implementing a range of country-specific duties at US ports of entry would be a mammoth logistical undertaking.
If Trump moves forward, then "expect bureaucratic fireworks," he said.
The twin Trump tariff moves set for this week also come on the heels of the president's decision last week to install 10% duties on China. He also promised, but then delayed, 25% duties on Canada and Mexico over issues of illegal drugs and migration.
China hit back at the 10% move with an array of tariffs on an array of American goods including liquefied natural gas, crude oil, agricultural machinery, and other goods.
Those duties from China went into effect this weekend with Trump's executive order allowing him to respond with even higher duties. It's unclear if he will.
As for Canada and Mexico, Trump said in a Fox News interview this past weekend that, so far, the concessions from those countries designed to avert blanket tariffs were "not good enough."
By Ben Werschkul · Washington Correspondent
