Trump to escalate global trade tensions with new reciprocal tariffs on US trading partners

(Reuters)

WASHINGTON, April 2 – U.S. President Donald Trump was poised to impose sweeping new reciprocal tariffs on global trading partners on Wednesday, upending decades of rules-based trade, threatening cost increases and likely drawing retaliation from all sides.

Details of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff plans were still being formulated and closely held ahead of a White House Rose Garden announcement ceremony scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern Time (2000 GMT).

The new duties are due to take effect immediately after Trump announces them, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday, while a separate 25% global tariff on auto imports will take effect on April 3.

Trump for weeks has said his reciprocal tariff plans are a move to equalize generally lower U.S. tariff rates with those charged by other countries and counteract their non-tariff barriers that disadvantage U.S. exports. But the format of the duties was unclear amid reports that Trump was considering a 20% universal tariff.

A former Trump first-term trade official told Reuters that Trump was more likely to impose comprehensive tariff rates on individual countries at somewhat lower levels.

The former official added that the number of countries facing these duties would likely exceed the approximately 15 countries that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previously said the administration was focused on due to their high trade surpluses with the U.S.

Bessent told Republican House of Representatives lawmakers on Tuesday that the reciprocal tariffs represent a “cap” of the highest U.S. tariff level that countries will face and could go down if they meet the administration’s demands, according to Republican Representative Kevin Hern.