> it’s intended to force people to the table to negotiate with an uncomfortable starting position for them.
Last year Norway bought[1] goods for 83B NOK from the US, while the US bought goods from us for 62B NOK.
We were slapped with a 16% blanket tariff, despite Norway having very few tariffs.
The majority of US imports were machinery and transportation equipment. Cars have taxes but they are not US-specific, and we have no local car production to protect.
We do have tariffs on clothing, 15%, and much higher on food we farm. However none on stuff we don't farm, for example we import a lot of corn from the US which has zero tariffs.
So why exactly should we be in an uncomfortable position when we already import significantly more than the US buys from us?
Last year Norway bought[1] goods for 83B NOK from the US, while the US bought goods from us for 62B NOK.
We were slapped with a 16% blanket tariff, despite Norway having very few tariffs.
The majority of US imports were machinery and transportation equipment. Cars have taxes but they are not US-specific, and we have no local car production to protect.
We do have tariffs on clothing, 15%, and much higher on food we farm. However none on stuff we don't farm, for example we import a lot of corn from the US which has zero tariffs.
So why exactly should we be in an uncomfortable position when we already import significantly more than the US buys from us?
[1]: https://www.ssb.no/utenriksokonomi/utenrikshandel/statistikk...