Donald Trump's Easter treat - An 8-point non-tariff cheating list for trade partners. What's in it?

US President Donald Trump on Easter Sunday issued what seemed to be a warning for countries he imposed tariffs on.

In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump issued an eight-point ‘non-tariff cheating’ list, thereby warning countries of non-tariff related offences that could potentially spoil their relationship with the US.

Trump's eight-point non-tariff cheating list included currency manipulation, dumping below cost, VATs that act as tariffs and export or other government subsidies.

What is Donald Trump's eight non-tariff cheating list?

The eight points in Donald Trump's non-tariff cheating list are:

1. Currency manipulation

2. VATs that can act as tariffs and export subsidies

3. Dumping below cost

4. Export subsidies and other government subsidies

5. Protective agricultural standards ("e.g., no genetically engineered corn in EU")

6. Protective technical standards (for example, “Japan’s bowling ball test”)

7. Counterfeiting, piracy, and IP theft that amount to over $1 trillion a year

8. Transshipping to evade tariffs

Donald Trump's post comes days after he announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for most trade partners, other than China.

The US President has earlier accused countries of devaluing their currencies artificially to make US goods more expensive and their exports cheaper.

In 2018, Trump had claimed that Japan was using a ‘bowling ball test’ to cheat American automakers out of selling cars in the country.

“It’s the bowling ball test. They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and drop it on the hood of the car,” he had said.

Trump made the same claim on Sunday, which in 2018 was dismissed by a White House official as a joke.

Trump tariffs on China

Donald Trump has imposed reciprocal tariffs of up to 145 per cent on imports from China. His administration has said that when the new tariffs are added on to the existing ones, it could go up to 245 per cent for some items.

On Friday, however, Trump said that the US is having good conversations privately with China amid the two countries' trade war.

“By the way, we have nice conversations going with China,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It's, like, really very good.” He did not offer additional details, as per a report by Reuters.

Trump's administration is locked in a war of sky-high reciprocal tariffs with superpower rival China that has unnerved world markets.

“I think we're going to make a very good deal with China,” he said at the White House earlier as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited for talks aimed at ending US tariffs on the European Union.