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On Thursday, February 13, 2025, President Trump signed a memorandum entitled “Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs.”  The memorandum stopped well short of immediately imposing a tariff regime and instead directs the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative (USTR), in consultation with other Executive Branch departments and agencies, to take actions to investigate the harm caused to the United States by “non-reciprocal” tariffs and other trade practices found to disadvantage American businesses.

The memorandum states that the requested review will be “comprehensive in scope” and will examine non-reciprocal trade relationships with United States trading partners, including the following:

  • Tariffs imposed on U.S. products;
  • Unfair, discriminatory, or extraterritorial taxes, including value-added tax (VAT);
  • Exchange rate policies;
  • Wage suppression; and
  • Other policies that the Administration finds to make United States businesses and workers less competitive

The memorandum refers to the reports requested by the America First Trade Policy memorandum issued by President Trump on January 20, 2025 that are due to the President by April 1, 2025 to serve as the starting point for examining these practices alleged to be non-reciprocal.  The memorandum does not direct any specific action or refer to any particular statutory tool to be used to implement the goal of reciprocal tariffs.  Instead, the memorandum states that the relevant agencies “shall initiate, pursuant to their respective legal authorities, all necessary actions to investigate the harm to the United States from any non-reciprocal trade arrangements adopted by any trading partners.” 

While the President previously indicated that the reciprocal tariff plan would go into effect “almost immediately,” today’s announcement appears to indicate that further deliberation and factfinding will be conducted by the relevant agencies before any comprehensive reciprocal tariff regime would be imposed.  However, the timing and nature of any additional tariffs imposed in response to the President’s memorandum likely will be affected by the President’s progress in negotiations with other countries on trade and other issues.

The Husch Blackwell international trade team is continuing to monitor developments closely and will provide updates as new developments occur.