President Donald Trump has opted to impose fresh tariffs on every country, not just those with the largest trade deficits with the United States. Trump’s broad-brush import taxes, which Trump referred to as America’s “Liberation Day,” are to be officially announced this coming Wednesday. The tariffs will come in addition to the already imposed levies on aluminum, steel, autos, and Chinese products.
Trump’s remarks came during a press briefing on Air Force One, where he indicated that the new tariffs would apply universally, saying, “You’d start with all countries.” However, he also noted that his administration would be “far more generous” and “kinder” than other nations had been to the US in their trade dealings.
The declaration is a shift from the previous tone of comments in which Trump suggested he would scale down the tariff proposals. The economics adviser at the White House, Kevin Hassett, had already pointed out that the tariffs would be slapped on 10 to 15 countries with the largest trade deficits with the US but didn’t name them.
The president’s economic policy rests on the assumption that tariffs are an effective instrument for protecting the US economy from unfair trade practices and as leverage for bargaining for better trade deals. Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, highlighted the revenue gains of the new tariffs, projecting that they would generate trillions of dollars and result in millions of US jobs. The proposed auto import tax alone could raise up to $100 billion annually, according to Navarro.
Despite the possible revenue gains, fear of the global market impact has stirred volatility. Asian share markets showed signs of agony following Trump’s tariff comments. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.6%, and South Korea’s Kospi lost 2.5%.
Other countries, including the European Union and Canada, have already announced they are preparing retaliatory trade measures in response to Trump’s tariff policies. The UK is also still negotiating, attempting to fend off potential blowback from the US’s new trade policies.
In a separate development, Trump reaffirmed the US deadline for Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell its popular TikTok app by April 5. TikTok could be banned in the US over national security concerns if a deal is not finalized by the deadline.
