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The president launched a new chapter in U.S. trade, imposing a 10 percent universal tariff on trading partners and higher reciprocal levies on some.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
By Andrew Moran, Terri Wu, Emel Akan<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WASHINGTON\u2014Just 72 days after taking office, President Donald Trump announced on April 2 sweeping trade policy changes, introducing what he called \u201creciprocal tariffs\u201d for all countries and declaring it \u201cLiberation Day in America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For decades, the United States has kept low trade barriers, promoting free trade agreements with minimal or zero tariffs\u2014at least on its part. Those days are now over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200b\u200bAt a White House event, Trump presented a large chart outlining baseline and reciprocal tariff rates trading partners now face in attempts to balance their high trade barriers against U.S. goods. The rates include a flat 10 percent levy, along with additional rates tailored to match each nation\u2019s trade barriers on America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s new tariff regime is designed to boost U.S. manufacturing and create American jobs, but the effects on inflation and the short-term and long-term impacts on the economy remain to be seen. Here are seven takeaways from Wednesday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. 10 Percent Universal Tariffs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Trump imposed a minimum baseline tariff of 10 percent on imports from all countries. The across-the-board levy will take effect on April 5 at 12:01 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cForeign nations will finally be asked to pay for the privilege of access to our market\u2014the biggest market in the world,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president implemented the latest trade measures as he declared a national emergency under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that grants the president authority to regulate imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, the United States imported approximately $4.1 trillion in goods and services. The White House estimates that new tariffs could generate trillions of dollars over a 10-year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Reciprocal Tariffs Target Countries With High Barriers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In addition to universal tariffs, Trump also announced additional reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners who made the \u201cworst offenders\u201d list. These tariffs will be higher to counter partner nations\u2019 non-monetary trade barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White House announced that the new tariff rates shown in the president\u2019s chart for each country consist of the 10 percent baseline tariff and additional reciprocal levies. These new tariffs will be applied on top of any other existing tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The additional reciprocal rates will take effect on April 9 at 12:01 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re kind people, very kind,\u201d Trump said, noting that the United States will only impose half the reciprocal tariff rate that each trade partner nation has been charging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI call this kind reciprocal. This is not full reciprocal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the list, many of the United States\u2019 top trading partners will now be subject to significant tariffs, including the European Union (20 percent), Japan (24 percent), Taiwan (32 percent), and South Korea (25 percent).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cambodia will face one of the highest rates of 49 percent. Vietnam will be hit with a 46 percent reciprocal levy, and India a 34 percent reciprocal tariff, on top of the baseline levy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president imposed a 34 percent reciprocal tax on China. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed to Bloomberg Television that the 34 percent is on top of existing tariffs, bringing China\u2019s total tariffs to 54 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bessent pointed to various actions instituted by foreign governments, such as currency manipulation, value-added taxes (VATs), and \u201cnon-market policies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A White House fact sheet outlined many instances of non-tariff barriers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India, for example, has established duplicative testing and certification requirements in different sectors \u201cthat make it difficult or costly for American companies to sell their products in India.\u201d If these barriers were dismantled, U.S. exports would grow by at least $5.3 billion per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials say countries such as China, Germany, Japan, and South Korea have implemented policies\u2014regressive tax systems and low penalties for environmental degradation\u2014that \u201csuppress the domestic consumption power of their own citizens.\u201d This, the document states, also enhances the competitiveness of their exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The White House clarified that presidential action under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on specific goods, such as automobiles, car parts, and aluminum, will not be subject to reciprocal tariffs. These products will instead fall under their specific tariff regimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The president is poised to introduce Section 232 actions on copper, lumber, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors soon, senior administration officials noted. Critical minerals could also be part of this tariff regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, Russia is excluded from the list due to the sanctions imposed over the Ukraine war, which have already effectively halted trade between the United States and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The United States had the highest trade deficit with China last year, totaling nearly $300 billion. For years, the ruling Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP\u2019s) unfair trade practices, including forced technology transfers, intellectual property theft, and state subsidies, have been criticized by both political parties for threatening American businesses and workers. Additionally, China has been accused of flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After taking office, Trump imposed a 20 percent tariff on all goods made in China, citing a national emergency related to the ongoing trafficking of fentanyl. To this day, China remains the primary source of fentanyl precursors, which are shipped to Mexico and Canada, where they are processed into the illicit drug and smuggled into the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China will now face U.S. tariffs totaling 54 percent, including the 34 percent reciprocal tariff, bringing it close to the 60 percent rate that Trump threatened Beijing with during his campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAmerican people are paying a very big price,\u201d Trump said during his Rose Garden speech on April 2, noting that China has taken \u201ctremendous advantage\u201d of the United States for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A White House official told reporters during a call that China uses transshipping to circumvent tariffs, achieving this by using third-party countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe problem with Vietnam is not their tariffs,\u201d the official said. \u201cThe problem is everything else they do, including setting up shop for communist China to send us things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200b\u200bWhile other countries may yield, China is expected to resist Trump\u2019s new tariff policies, according to Frank Xie, business professor at the University of South Carolina Aiken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChina is the source of globalization. Other countries will cave in, but China is unlikely to do that,\u201d he told The Epoch Times. \u201cThis allows Trump to take care of other countries and then focus on China.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Canada and Mexico have been excluded from the new reciprocal tariff regime. According to senior administration officials, both countries remain subject to the national emergency that Trump previously declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The original 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, imposed due to concerns over illegal migration and fentanyl trafficking, will remain in effect. The Trump administration had previously granted exemptions for cars and other goods compliant with the U.S.\u2013Mexico\u2013Canada Agreement (USMCA), but these exemptions expire on April 2, and no extension has been announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt this time, Canada and Mexico, they continue to be subject to the national emergency related to fentanyl and migration, and that tariff regime will persist while those conditions persist, and they will be subject to that regime, and not the new regimes,\u201d one official told reporters before Trump\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current exemptions for goods covered by the USMCA free trade deal, implemented on March 6, also remain. Canada also previously received a reduced 10 percent tariff on its energy exports, which remains unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the fentanyl and border security tariffs are terminated due to a sufficient response from either Canada or Mexico, the two nations will then be integrated into the new tariff regime, the official said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has vowed to impose countermeasures to Trump\u2019s auto tariffs, says global reciprocal tariffs will \u201cfundamentally change the international trading system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump and administration officials have justified the tariffs by emphasizing the need for America to address structural imbalances in global trade to \u201cmake America wealthy again\u201d after being \u201cripped off for more than 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,\u201d Trump said at the White House Rose Garden event, which was attended by many Republican lawmakers and most of his Cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cForeign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new measures will help reshore U.S. manufacturing, an industry that has been decimated since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFive million manufacturing jobs were lost while racking up trade deficits of $19 trillion,\u201d he stated. \u201cThat was the worst trade deal ever made as a result of these gigantic losses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The decades-long trade deficit was also cited as a reason for the tariffs. The trade gap\u2014when a nation imports more goods and services from other nations than it exports\u2014reached a record $1.2 trillion last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChronic trade deficits are no longer merely an economic problem,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey\u2019re a national emergency that threatens our security and our very way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As to whether countries can negotiate out of the new tariffs, senior administration officials told reporters that \u201cthis is not a negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s a national emergency,\u201d the official said. \u201cAnd any country that thinks that they can simply make an announcement promising to lower some tariffs is ignoring the big, central problem of the massive non-tariff barriers and the institutionalization in their trade model to cheat America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If countries retaliate, the president has the flexibility to respond to ensure that these efforts are not undermined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n William Lee, chief economist at the Milken Institute, a California-based economic think tank, says that Trump\u2019s \u201ckind\u201d approach, which sets reciprocal tariff rates at half of what other countries charge, is meant to make negotiations easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If other countries retaliate, Trump has the option to respond with higher tariffs, Lee told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Supporters of the new tariffs have argued that they should not be seen in isolation from the administration\u2019s other economic policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee views the tariffs as a strategic tool in boosting domestic income and securing supply chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said the efficacy of Trump\u2019s tariff policies, especially the reciprocal tariffs, relies on Trump\u2019s other initiatives. The economist said that the new trade framework is attracting manufacturing back to the United States, along with innovation. Fewer regulations and lower tax rates will be the primary pull factors, and together with the push from tariffs, they will make Trump\u2019s vision for a strong American economy within reach, Lee said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has also announced<\/a> a new office under the Commerce Department to focus on accelerating the progress of investments above $1 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Xie said that the additional investments, tax reductions, and tax rebates that Trump has announced are designed to result in income growth and reduced tax burden for American consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They should lead to \u201chigher spending power that will neutralize the increase in the prices due to tariffs,\u201d the business professor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The stock market has seen the largest quarterly drop since 2022, partly due to uncertainties tied to Trump\u2019s tariffs. The S&P 500 dropped 4.6 percent in the first quarter, and NASDAQ dropped around 10 percent. Goldman Sachs said there\u2019s now a 35 percent chance of the U.S. economy entering a recession within 12 months, up from 20 percent, with tariffs being a contributing factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee offers a different perspective, saying that the recent stock market decline and wider economic challenges are being \u201cunfairly attributed\u201d by the media and some economists to Trump\u2019s tariff policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said Trump\u2019s tariffs have introduced uncertainty into the market but the impact has been overstated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee pointed out that U.S. exports account<\/a> for about 11 percent of the GDP, and imports, which are deducted from GDP, are equivalent<\/a> to about 14 percent. Given the size of the tax base for either U.S. tariffs or retaliatory tariffs from other countries, the economist said, the fears about a recession or global depression are \u201cridiculous because it\u2019s just not a big enough number to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Economist Ian Fletcher thinks a recession is a real risk, not because of the size of U.S. exports or imports but because of the shock these significant reciprocal tariffs bring to the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTrump has probably gotten very confident from what he did the first time,\u201d Fletcher told The Epoch Times, referring to the limited economic impact of the tariffs he imposed during his first term. \u201cBut he is going way beyond what he did the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fletcher thinks a five-year phase-in tariff regime would allow the market time to react rationally. There is a chance that Trump scales back the announced tariffs just like he did earlier in the year, he added. However, Trump has created uncertainty, adding on another dimension for businesses to consider as they make their investment plans, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While differences in reasoning is driving differences in economist forecasts, economic indicators will start to reveal the real-world impacts as these tariffs become effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Xie said he will be looking to employment data and real income growth as meaningful early signs of the actual impact of Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee, meanwhile, said he will be focusing on domestic versus foreign shares in consumption and investments in the United States. \u201cThose are the leading indicators that people are talking with their wallets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that if after the initial period of the tariffs, higher prices stick, then the risk of inflation will be real.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is chop full of information regarding the reciprocal tariffs, as we’ve been treated unfairly by the rest of the world for quite a while. Begs the question, why are the OCGFC reversing course now? They’ve been exploiting labor in other nations for decades and destroyed our manufacturing base after WWII. And since the world’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11368,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11367\/revisions\/11368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"image-5836032\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F04%2F03%2Fid5836032-GettyImages-2208192778.jpg&w=3840&q=75\")
3. China Faces Steep Tariff Hike<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"image-5836027\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F04%2F03%2Fid5836027-GettyImages-2203099659.jpg&w=3840&q=75\")
4. Canada, Mexico Omitted From List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"image-5836029\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F04%2F03%2Fid5836029-GettyImages-2207473686.jpg&w=3840&q=75\")
5. Trump Justifies New Tariffs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"image-5836030\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F04%2F03%2Fid5836030-GettyImages-2208185163.jpg&w=3840&q=75\")
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6. Role of Tariffs in Trump\u2019s Economic Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
7. Economic Indicators to Watch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"image-5836031\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F04%2F03%2Fid5836031-GettyImages-2208186134.jpg&w=3840&q=75\")