President Trump announced that the U.S. will impose a 10% tariff on all imports, and even higher rates for some nations, in a series of moves he declared “Liberation Day” for U.S. trade policy.
The president opened his remarks Wednesday by saying that his new tariff policies would “make America wealthy again.” He said he would be announcing reciprocal tariffs on countries across the world. “It can’t get any simpler than that,” he said.
Later, Trump held up a chart with a list of countries, saying it was too windy to put it on an easel. He began to read off of the list, with the tariffs the countries impose on the United States, and then the tariff he said the U.S. would levy in response.
He said that the U.S. was going to be “charging a discounted reciprocal tariff” because the U.S. is kind. For China, the U.S. is levying a 34% tariff, then for Europe “we’re going to charge them 20%” and Japan 24%. He is going down the list of more than a dozen countries.
What to know:
Trump began speaking shortly after 4 p.m. ET at the Rose Garden.
Tariffs have triggered unease and confusion across the business world, with some saying the uncertainty is as tough to deal with as the added duties.
Markets turned higher ahead of President Trump’s big tariff announcement, though the modest moves follow a tough quarter for U.S. stocks that ended Monday.
