Trump Slaps Broad Tariffs on Imports --- President, heralding Liberation Day, hits all partners with 10% levy, some with more

"The U.S. will impose a 10%, across-the-board tariff on all imports, and even-higher rates for nations the White House considers bad actors, President Trump said on Wednesday, making good on his campaign promises and upending decades of global trade practices.

The new plan, unveiled at a Rose Garden event, is a combination of two proposals debated by aides in recent days -- universal tariffs or country-by-country rates.

The plan represents a fundamental rethinking of U.S. trade policy on a scale not seen since the post-World War II era, when the U.S. and other nations in 1947 signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, a treaty aimed at lowering tariffs and trade barriers between nations.

Trump and his team have said U.S. trading partners have taken advantage of that system, despite the U.S.'s leading role in establishing it, and that their actions seek to ensure fair treatment for American companies and goods.

Speaking in front of GOP officials and people wearing hard hats in a nod to his working-class support, Trump said his executive order would launch a golden age in America.

"It's our declaration of economic independence," he said, referring to Wednesday as "Liberation Day" for U.S. trade policy. "Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years, but it's not going to happen anymore."

Trump highlighted the tariffs and non-tariff barriers that other nations charge on the U.S., holding up a chart with data from the U.S. Trade Representative's Office on the non-tariff regulations U.S. firms currently face.

He said the U.S. was going to be "charging a discounted reciprocal tariff." For China, the U.S. is levying a 34% tariff on top of the existing 20%, then for Europe "we're going to charge them 20%" and Japan 24%.

The 10% baseline tariff will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, senior administration officials told reporters, and higher reciprocal tariffs will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. next Wednesday.

The president added that he is imposing tariffs of 25% on all foreign-made automobiles as of Thursday.

Major U.S. indexes turned higher ahead of the tariff announcement, ending with modest gains, following a tough quarter for U.S. stocks that ended on Monday.

But shares in some of the biggest U.S. technology and consumer firms fell late Wednesday following the tariff announcement, including a new 34% on China and 46% on Vietnam, nations that export large amounts of goods to America.

S&P 500 stock futures were down 3.4%, Nasdaq-100 futures were down 4.3% and Dow futures fell 2.2%.

Nike slid 6%, Apple fell 5% and Amazon dropped 4% in after-hours trading. Shares of big U.S. retailers also sold off, with Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy and Target down after the initial announcement.

The Trump administration has said tariffs can help the U.S. raise revenue, protect American businesses, move manufacturing to the U.S. and create jobs for American workers.

But economists have warned that tariffs are more likely to hurt U.S. industries, many of which rely on imported goods, and will ultimately raise prices for American consumers.

Tariffs that have already gone into effect include 25% duties on some goods from Mexico and Canada, 25% duties on all steel and aluminum imports and 20% duties on goods from China.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that although Trump's tariff announcement preserved "important elements" of the Canada-U.S. trading relationship, it will hurt the international trading system and the U.S. economy.

New-car prices could rise from $2,500 to $20,000 under Trump's tariff regime, depending on where the vehicles are made and the parts that go into them, Michigan-based Anderson Economic Group estimated in a report last week.

China's Commerce Ministry said Thursday that the tariffs "violate international trade rules, severely infringe the legitimate rights of relevant parties and represent a typical act of unilateral bullying."

China has already retaliated against the 20% tariff but with relatively modest measures. The ministry didn't specify what further steps were planned. China exported $439 billion in goods to the U.S. last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau

The EU plans to respond to Trump's tariffs with two sets of retaliatory measures, an EU spokesman said Wednesday. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU's executive body, warned that the "global economy will massively suffer" from the tariffs. However, she said it isn't too late to engage in talks with the U.S.

The first set of EU retaliation measures has already been announced and deals with U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. It includes duties of up to 50% on a range of American goods, potentially including whiskey, motorcycles and motorboats. Some of the duties were initially planned to start on Tuesday, but they were pushed to mid-April to allow more time for negotiations with the U.S. and internal consultations about the products on the list.

A second set of measures is pending. The EU spokesman said the bloc plans to respond simultaneously to the reciprocal tariffs and to U.S. automotive tariffs.

The EU can ratchet up tensions by invoking a relatively new sanctions system known as the anti-coercion instrument, which would let it target U.S. services in addition to goods, Neuberger Berman's Maya Bhandari said. She said any European retaliation risks provoking a cycle of countermeasures given Trump's pledge to mirror any measures directed at the U.S. "You can see how this could get quite messy."

Trump's steadfast support from congressional Republicans faced a fresh challenge on Wednesday, when four GOP senators joined Democrats in passing a resolution aiming to undo the president's 25% tariff on Canadian imports.

The vote for the measure was 51 to 48. The resolution has been blocked in the GOP-led House, and Trump could veto any measure that makes it to his desk.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) earlier Wednesday called President Trump's trade war "absurd, crazy, chaotic."

"[Trump] says one thing one day, and another thing the next day," Schumer said. "He changes which countries, he changes the percentage, he changes which goods. And what do businesses hate? Uncertainty."” [1]

We will buy less goods, produced by slaves of Vietnam’s Communists? Freedom for us from moral suffering, freedom for the slaves. Let’s celebrate.

1. Trump Slaps Broad Tariffs on Imports --- President, heralding Liberation Day, hits all partners with 10% levy, some with more. Bade, Gavin; Andrews, Natalie; Jaffe, Aaron L.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 03 Apr 2025: A1.