British media reports suggest countries may implement 19% tariffs on U.S. services
Countries may implement tariffs of 19% on U.S. goods.
TroibNews 
Countries may feel compelled to impose reciprocal tariffs of 19 percent on U.S. services to rectify persistent bilateral trade imbalances, wrote The Economist.
In a Saturday article, the magazine used the same methodology for analyzing services that Washington employed to determine reciprocal tariffs, arriving at the aforementioned conclusion and cautioning that such actions have put prominent U.S. firms at risk of retaliation.
While it is accurate that the United States has maintained a deficit in the trade of physical goods for decades, the situation is reversed in the services sector, the article highlighted.
The U.S. services trade surplus reached $295 billion, approaching a record high, as noted, emphasizing that the U.S. is a significant exporter, particularly in cloud-computing capabilities, delivery networks, and financial-hedging instruments, rather than in traditional goods like metals or machinery.
Additionally, the article pointed out that governments have various methods to hinder U.S. services—ranging from antitrust probes and data regulations to licensing fees and additional taxes on foreign companies—which could, however, negatively affect their own businesses and consumers, similar to how U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods will impact Americans.
For years, U.S. trade negotiators have focused on lowering global barriers to the export of financial expertise, technological capabilities, logistical strengths, and more. The question raised is "whether this administration is ready to use the tariffs as leverage or whether it is determined to maintain them nonetheless," as Michael Froman, former U.S. lead trade negotiator and current president of the think-tank Council on Foreign Relations, was quoted in the magazine.
If Trump opts to keep his tariff barriers on goods, other nations may retaliate by leveraging their imports of U.S. services to counteract these tariffs, potentially causing harm to the most competitive U.S. global firms, the magazine predicted.
Alejandro Jose Martinez contributed to this article for TROIB News
In a Saturday article, the magazine used the same methodology for analyzing services that Washington employed to determine reciprocal tariffs, arriving at the aforementioned conclusion and cautioning that such actions have put prominent U.S. firms at risk of retaliation.
While it is accurate that the United States has maintained a deficit in the trade of physical goods for decades, the situation is reversed in the services sector, the article highlighted.
The U.S. services trade surplus reached $295 billion, approaching a record high, as noted, emphasizing that the U.S. is a significant exporter, particularly in cloud-computing capabilities, delivery networks, and financial-hedging instruments, rather than in traditional goods like metals or machinery.
Additionally, the article pointed out that governments have various methods to hinder U.S. services—ranging from antitrust probes and data regulations to licensing fees and additional taxes on foreign companies—which could, however, negatively affect their own businesses and consumers, similar to how U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods will impact Americans.
For years, U.S. trade negotiators have focused on lowering global barriers to the export of financial expertise, technological capabilities, logistical strengths, and more. The question raised is "whether this administration is ready to use the tariffs as leverage or whether it is determined to maintain them nonetheless," as Michael Froman, former U.S. lead trade negotiator and current president of the think-tank Council on Foreign Relations, was quoted in the magazine.
If Trump opts to keep his tariff barriers on goods, other nations may retaliate by leveraging their imports of U.S. services to counteract these tariffs, potentially causing harm to the most competitive U.S. global firms, the magazine predicted.
Alejandro Jose Martinez contributed to this article for TROIB News
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