After months of teasing that he would finally unveil his sweeping tariff regime on the “Liberation Day” of April 2, President Donald Trump made good on his threat, announcing a baseline minimum of 10% tariffs on all imports into America with zero exceptions. The so-called “worst offenders” will be subject to an additional tariff margin calculated by the Council of Economic Advisers.
While the White House is implementing the tariffs under the legal justification that our trade deficit is a national emergency, the administration claims that Trump is demonstrating benevolence by making the additional tariff margin on the “worst offenders” equivalent to just 50% of the reciprocal tariff levied on our exports into the offending countries. This margin, according to senior officials, is based on the notion that the very existence of a trade deficit must mean that a partner with a trade surplus is engaging in unfair trade practices. Because nontariff barriers, such as environmental regulations or bans on genetically modified organisms, cannot be easily quantified, the final tariff amounts levied on some “worst offenders” may be dramatically larger than the actual effective tariff rate of a given country.
“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said during his Rose Garden address. “Now, it is our turn to prosper and, in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt, and it will all happen very quickly.”
While the White House waited until after the closing bell to unveil the details of Trump’s long-awaited plans, after-hours trading reflected hesitation among investors who had previously remained cautiously optimistic that the tariff threats, if they ever actually materialized, would be imposed as a strategic pressure to bring tariffs on U.S. exports down to zero. Trump’s remarks made clear those hopes from Wall Street were little more than wish casting.
Although Trump had long touted tariffs, even throughout his presidential campaign, he vacillated between supporting them as a negotiation strategy and as an end goal in and of themselves. As recently as earlier on “Liberation Day,” the Washington Examiner understands that Trump was still consulting advisers on his decision to offer zero exemptions.
WHAT ARE THE ‘DIRTY 15’ COUNTRIES THAT WILL BE MOST AFFECTED BY TRUMP’S TARIFFS?
While Mexico and Canada are legally not subject to Wednesday’s national emergency declaration, their imports are already subject to 25% tariffs, per the president’s prior national emergency declaration on fentanyl coming across U.S. borders. This is despite metrics from both countries plummeting, with migrant crossings via the southern border falling to just 7,000 in March, the lowest number ever recorded.
The preliminary 10% global tariff amounts to $410 billion in annual new taxes based on a static score of 2024 imports.