Donald Trump continued his vast offensive against the United States' trading partners by announcing that he could establish significant customs duties on imported cars, but also on semiconductors and the pharmaceutical sector, as early as April, provoking cautious initial reactions in Asia.

Since his inauguration at the end of January, the President of the United States has made customs duties the main tool of his policy of reducing the large American trade deficit, by imposing them on all his partners on imported steel and aluminum and by announcing the implementation of reciprocal customs duties.

He is now targeting three strategic manufacturing sectors, which he had already said would likely face tariffs.

Asked Tuesday at a news conference in Mar-a-Lago, Fla., what he expected for the auto sector, he said, "I'll probably tell you on April 2, but it's going to be about 25 percent." Then asked about semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, he said, "It's going to be 25 percent and up, and it's going to grow significantly over the course of a year."

In any case, Donald Trump insisted that Washington's trading partners could avoid being taxed by investing in factories in the United States.

"We want to give them time to arrive (…) we want to give them a chance" to establish their factories in the United States to avoid customs duties.

- Cautious reactions in Asia -

This has provoked cautious reactions in Asia, where some of the main suppliers of these goods, such as Taiwan, South Korea or Japan, are also completely dependent on American protection for their security vis-à-vis their potentially aggressive neighbors.

"The scope of products subject to customs duties has not yet been clarified. We will continue to monitor and support Taiwanese industries," the island's Ministry of Economy reacted in a statement, under strong Chinese military pressure.

"As for the automobile tariffs, we have raised the issue with the U.S. government," government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

Given "the importance of Japan's auto industry," Tokyo "will first take appropriate measures while carefully examining the specific details of the measures."

Following the new steel tariffs, South Korea, which is protected by the US nuclear umbrella while its northern neighbour is strengthening its nuclear capabilities, had said it wanted to "build a close relationship" with the Trump administration.

Donald Trump welcomed the first effects of his policy on Tuesday evening.

"I've been contacted by some of the largest companies in the world, and because of what we're doing with the tariffs and the incentives, they want to come back to the United States and we'll announce that very large companies will come back," he said.

- European Commissioner -

He was also pleased to see the European Union (EU) "reduce their tariffs on cars to the level we have."

"The EU had 10% tax on cars and now they are at 2.5%, which is exactly the same level as us," he assured.

But even so, while he "takes note of what has been done", the American president believes that "the EU has been very unfair" with the United States. "We have a trade deficit of 350 billion dollars, they don't buy our cars, our agricultural products, they buy almost nothing, we have to rectify that", he complained.

According to Commerce Department data, the US trade deficit in goods with the EU was $235 billion in 2024.

In contrast, the United States has a trade surplus in services.

European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic arrived in Washington on Tuesday for a two-day visit and will meet with Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump's Secretary of Commerce, and Jamieson Greer, the White House representative in charge of trade relations (USTR).