After weeks of delay, President Donald Trump unveiled tariffs on all imports into the United States on Wednesday.
The president announced 10% baseline tariffs on all imports and an across-the-board 25% tariff on all imported automobiles. In addition to the blanket duties, Trump shared a comprehensive set of reciprocal tariffs on specific countries, hoping to reduce what he sees as an imbalance between the U.S. and its trading partners.
Combined with already announced tariffs, Trump’s new plan will place an overall duty of 34% on all Chinese imports. Trump exempted Canada and Mexico from the 10% tariffs and reciprocal duties while a 25% tariff on imports from the countries remains in effect.
“We will supercharge our domestic industrial base, we will open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Trump stuck to the rosy side of a potential trade war in his remarks, speaking of a future in which American manufacturing has been revitalized out of necessity. He said April 2 would “be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again.” The 10% tariff will take effect on April 5 and the reciprocal tariffs will begin on April 9.
“More production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers,” he said. “We’re gonna come back very strongly.”
While tariffs are likely to raise prices in the short term, Trump said that historians would look back on his tariff announcement as “one of the most important days in the history of our country.”
The markets failed to take the long view, immediately dropping after Trump’s tariff announcement. Futures of all three major U.S. stock exchanges fell sharply and stocks from U.S. mega-corporations also took a hit. Apple, Amazon and Walmart’s stock prices all fell by more than 4% immediately following the press conference.
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