The UAE on Tuesday said it had yet to establish how US President Donald Trump’s announcement of 25 per cent tariffs on Iran’s trading partners would be implemented and how it will affect the supply of food products to the Emirates.
“The details of the announcement are not clear,” said Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Foreign Trade, at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in the UAE capital.
“We are trying to explore how this is going to be implemented. We are the second-largest trading partner with Iran, and it is one of the main providers and suppliers of many of our commodities, especially food products.
“We have to see, is this going to affect the supply of the food products, or some of the products that come from Iran? Is this going to affect the prices on the consumer and how much they're paying to have the alternative?”
Mr Trump on Monday announced that any country doing business with Iran will face a tariff rate of 25 per cent on trade with the US.
It came after the US President said he was considering his response to the Iranian government's suppression of widespread protests in the country.
Iran has been rocked by nationwide demonstrations that broke out on December 28. The protests were initially sparked by a drop in the value of the rial, price increases and a sharp deterioration in Iran's economic situation. But they have since expanded to include wider demands for political change.
Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post that tariffs would affect “any and all business being done with the United States of America”. He added that the order is “final and conclusive”.
Last year, the US raised import duties on steel and aluminium imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, in what it said was a bid to protect its domestic industry.
Mr Al Zeyoudi said on Tuesday: "The main products that we export to the US is aluminium and gold, and aluminium already has a 50 per cent tariff ... we're still doing the analysis.
"I am sure the businesses are going to have to do their own analysis as well, and they're going to follow whatever is less risky ... but we as a government will make sure that we understand the details well."
Venezuela
Speaking of Venezuela in the wake of the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by the US, Mr Al Zeyoudi said the UAE would continue to conduct business with Caracas.
"We are going to continue as well now with the changes, for sure, we do have an excellent relation with the interim president [Delcy Rodríguez], who used to be the vice president, and she visited us couple of times," he said. "So we'll continue the engagement and see what we can do with the country."
