Breaking News: Trump's Shocking Tariff Announcement Rocks Global Trade – Find Out What Happens Next!
- Jordan Shahriary
- Apr 3
- 19 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
President Trump announced two new types of tariffs on April 2, or what he's calling "Liberation Day," aimed at erasing trade deficits between the U.S. and its trading partners.
Updated as of 21th April 2025:
China says it will ignore US 'tariff numbers game'
China will pay no attention if the United States continues to play the "tariff numbers game", China's foreign ministry said on Thursday, after the White House outline how China faces tariffs of up to 245% due to its retaliatory actions.
In a fact sheet released on Tuesday, the White House said China's total duties include the latest reciprocal tariff of 125%, a 20% tariff to address the fentanyl crisis, and tariffs of between 7.5% and 100% on specific goods to address unfair trade practices. U.S. President Donald Trump announced additional tariffs on all countries two weeks ago, before suddenly rolling back higher "reciprocal tariffs" for dozens of countries while keeping punishing duties on China.
Beijing raised its own levies on U.S. goods in response and has not sought talks, which it says can only be conducted on the basis of mutual respect and equality. Meanwhile, many other nations have begun looking at bilateral deals with Washington.
Last week, China also filed a new complaint with the World Trade Organization expressing "grave concern" over U.S. tariffs, accusing Washington of violating the global trade body's rules.
China this week unexpectedly appointed a new trade negotiator who would be key in any talks to resolve the escalating tariff war, replacing trade tsar Wang Shouwen with Li Chenggang, its envoy to the WTO.
Washington said Trump was open to making a trade deal with China but Beijing should make the first move, insisting that China needed "our money". By: Reuters
Updated as of 14th April 2025:
All of Trump’s tariffs and threatened trade actions
A global trade war, sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump, has intensified as he ramped up levies on China while reversing sweeping tariffs on most trading partners, stoking fears of a recession, sending jitters across global financial markets and drawing condemnation from leaders around the world.
Over the weekend, Trump pledged tariffs on imported semiconductors that could kick in this week, and hinted at exemptions for some companies in the sector.
The move means that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China likely will be short-lived.
Last Wednesday, Trump had announced a temporary reprieve for levies on dozens of countries in a dramatic U-turn while ratcheting up tariffs on Chinese imports effectively to 145%.
The initial 10% "baseline" tariff on all imports from many countries took effect at U.S. seaports, airports and customs on April 5.
Meanwhile, Trump's tariff threats have changed over time, leaving other nations and businesses unclear about what is to come next and rattled consumer and business confidence.
Here is a roundup of Trump's trade-related steps and threats
BROAD TARIFFS
A cornerstone of Trump's vision includes a phased rollout of universal tariffs on all U.S. imports.
Trump had tasked his economics team with devising plans for reciprocal tariffs on every country that taxes U.S. imports, and to counteract non-tariff barriers such as vehicle safety rules that exclude U.S. autos, and value-added taxes that increase their cost.
According to Trump, the reciprocal tariffs are a response to barriers put on U.S. goods, while administration officials said the tariffs would create manufacturing jobs at home and open up export markets abroad, although they cautioned it would take time to see results.
Whereas tariffs were once the mainstay of U.S. tax revenues, in recent decades they have dwindled to a fraction of U.S. tax receipts. Economists say Trump's policies will be inflationary as importing businesses, which pay levies, will likely pass added costs to consumers.
SPECIFIC COUNTRIES
Trump's tariff proposals target several key trade partners; some are listed below.
MEXICO AND CANADA: The two countries were the largest trade partners of the U.S. in 2024 through November, with Mexico ranked first. Trump's new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada took effect on March 4 as a retaliation for migration and fentanyl trafficking.
The tariffs included a 25% levy on most goods from Mexico and Canada, along with a 10% duty on Canada's energy imports. Canada primarily exports crude oil and other energy goods, as well as cars and auto parts within the North American auto manufacturing chain. Mexico also exports various goods to the U.S. in the industrial and auto sectors.
Canada hit back with 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($21.13 billion) worth of U.S. imports, including orange juice, peanut butter, beer, coffee, appliances and motorcycles.
The Canadian government added that it would impose additional tariffs on C$125 billion of U.S. goods if Trump's tariffs were still in place in 21 days, with the potential inclusion of vehicles, steel, aircraft, beef and pork.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said U.S. officials might still work out a partial resolution with the two neighbors, adding that they needed to do more on the fentanyl front.
On March 12, Canada, the biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States, said it would impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imported goods worth C$29.8 billion ($20 billion) in response to Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs.
While the two countries are currently exempt from the "Liberation Day" tariffs announced on April 2, they do face a separate set of 25% tariffs on auto imports.
Canada has requested WTO dispute consultations with the U.S. over its imposition of import duties on certain steel and aluminium products, as well as the levies on cars and car parts from Canada.
CHINA: Trump levied 10% tariffs across all Chinese imports into the U.S., effective on February 4, following repeated warnings to Beijing about insufficient measures to halt the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.
He followed that up with another 10% duty on Chinese goods, effective March 4.
China responded by announcing additional tariffs of 10% to 15% on certain U.S. imports from March 10 and a series of new export restrictions for designated U.S. entities. Later it raised complaints about the U.S. tariffs with the WTO.
On April 2, Trump imposed an additional 34% tariff on China, bringing the total new levy to 54%, which prompted the world's second-biggest economy to retaliate with a duty of 34% on all U.S. goods.
Trump responded that the U.S. would impose an additional 50% tariff on China if Beijing does not withdraw its retaliatory tariffs on the U.S., and said "all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated."
Washington's fresh round of tariffs lifted duties on China to an eye-watering 145%, prompting Beijing to jack up levies on U.S. goods by 125% in an intensifying trade war between the world's two biggest economies.
EUROPE: Trump said the EU and other countries have troubling trade surpluses with the U.S. He has said the countries' products will either be subject to tariffs or he will demand they buy more oil and gas from the U.S., even though U.S. gas export capacity is near its limits.
The 27-nation bloc faces 25% import tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars, as well as broader tariffs of 20% from April 9 for almost all other goods. Among vulnerable industries is pharmaceuticals, as U.S. firms such as Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer have large plants in Ireland, which is also a major exporter of medical devices.
The European Union said on April 7 it had offered a "zero-for-zero" tariff deal to avert a trade war, with EU ministers agreeing to prioritise negotiations while striking back with targeted countermeasures next week.
The EU on March 12 said it would impose counter-tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28 billion) worth of U.S. goods from next month in response to Trump's metals tariffs. The bloc is expected to produce a larger package of countermeasures by the end of April as a response to U.S. car and broader tariffs.
On March 13, Trump threatened to slap a 200% tariff on European wine and spirits in response to the EU plan to impose tariffs on American whiskey and other products next month.
PRODUCTS
AUTOS: On March 26, Trump unveiled a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks. The 25% levy would be imposed on top of previous duties on imports of finished vehicles starting on April 3.
Trump's directive included temporary exemptions for auto parts that are compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade that Trump negotiated during his first term.
Other major automotive parts imports, identified in Trump's proclamation as "engines and engine parts, transmissions and powertrain parts, and electrical components," will be subject to the tariffs on a date to be specified in a Federal Register notice, "but no later than May 3, 2025."
METALS: On March 12, Trump increased tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%, and extended the duties to hundreds of downstream products, from nuts and bolts to bulldozer blades and soda cans.
The U.S. is the world's largest aluminum importer and the second-largest steel importer, with more than half of those volumes coming from Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
Trump on February 25 ordered a new probe into possible new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild U.S. production of the metal critical in electric vehicles, military hardware, semiconductors and a wide range of consumer goods.
The U.S. produces domestically just over half the refined copper it consumes each year.
SEMICONDUCTORS: Trump said tariffs on semiconductor chips would also start at "25%, or higher," rising substantially over the course of a year, but didn't clarify when these will come into effect.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chipmaker, makes semiconductors for Nvidia, Apple and other U.S. clients, and generated 70% of its revenue in 2024 from customers based in North America.
LUMBER: Trump on March 1 ordered a new trade investigation that could heap more tariffs on imported lumber, adding to existing duties on Canadian softwood lumber and 25% tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods.
ALCOHOL: Trump on March 13 threatened to slap a 200% tariff on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports from Europe, in response to a European Union plan to impose tariffs on American whiskey and other products next month — which itself is a retaliation to Trump's 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that took effect the day before.
PHARMACEUTICALS: While Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement spared pharmaceutical products from reciprocal tariffs, the president later said duties for the sector were "under review" and warned that it could come in "at a level that you haven't really seen before."
ELECTRONICS: Trump granted smartphones, computers and some other electronics imported largely from China exclusions from steep tariffs, coming as a welcome relief to major technology firms such as Apple ,Dell Technologies and many other importers.
The move excludes the specified electronics from Trump's 10% baseline tariffs on goods from most countries other than China.
US begins probes into pharmaceutical, chip imports, setting stage for tariffs
The Trump administration is kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as part of a bid to impose tariffs on both sectors on national security grounds, notices posted to the Federal Register on Monday showed.
The filings set to be published on Wednesday set a 21-day deadline from that date for the submission of public comment on the issue and indicate the administration intends to pursue the levies under authority granted by Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Such section 232 probes need to be completed within 270 days after being announced. The administration of President Donald Trump has started 232 investigations into imports of copper and lumber, and probes completed in Trump's first term formed the basis for tariffs rolled out since his return to the White House in January on steel and aluminum and on the auto industry.
The U.S. began collecting 10% tariffs on imports on April 5. Pharmaceuticals and semiconductors are exempt from those duties, but Trump has said they will face separate tariffs.
Trump said on Sunday he would be announcing a tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, adding that there would be flexibility with some companies in the sector.
The U.S. relies heavily on chips imported from Taiwan, something then-President Joe Biden sought to reverse by granting billions in Chips Act awards to lure chipmakers to expand production in the United States.
The investigation announced on Monday will include both pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients as well as other derivative products, the notice showed.
Drugmakers have argued that tariffs could increase the chance of shortages and reduce access for patients. Still, Trump has pushed for the fees, arguing that the U.S. needs more drug manufacturing so it does not have to rely on other countries for its supply of medicines.
Companies in the industry have lobbied Trump to phase in tariffs on imported pharmaceutical products in hopes of reducing the sting from the charges and to allow time to shift manufacturing.
Large drugmakers have global manufacturing footprints, mainly in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and moving more production to the U.S. involves a major commitment of resources and could take years.
By: Reuters, Akash Sriram, Nathan Vifflin,
Updated as of 9th April 2025:
Trump raises tariffs again on China, appears to pause them for others
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would pause many of his new tariffs for 90 days, even as he raised them further on imports from China.
Trump's sudden reversal came less than 24 hours after steep new tariffs kicked in on imports from dozens of trading partners. The new trade barriers have
Trump said he would raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125% from the 104% level that took effect at midnight. At the same time he said he would lower them on other countries also subject to his new targeted duties.
"I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately," Trump wrote on social media.
Details were not immediately clear.
U.S. stock indexes jumped on the news. Bond yields came off earlier highs.
Trump temporarily drops tariffs to 10% for most countries, hits China harder with 125%
President Donald Trump on Wednesday dropped new tariff rates on imports from most U.S. trade partners to 10% for 90 days to allow trade negotiations with those countries.
Trump announced the pause hours after goods from nearly 90 nations became subject to stiffer, so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed by the United States.
The president also said in a social media post that he was raising the tariffs imposed on imports from China to 125% “effective immediately” due to the “lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets.” China earlier Wednesday said it would increase its tariff rate for imports from the U.S. to 84%.
Trump said “more than 75 Countries” contacted U.S. officials to negotiate after he unveiled his new tariffs last week.
Stock market indices rocketed sharply higher Wednesday on Trump’s announcement. The benchmark S&P 500 index leapt by 7%, which puts it on track for its largest single-day gain in five years.
Trump last week had said he would impose a baseline rate of 10% for tariffs on imports from more than 180 countries.
A subset of 90 countries’ imports would be subject to reciprocal tariffs, which ranged from a low of 11% to a high of 50%.
Financial markets have been in turmoil since Trump announced with plan, with U.S. stock markets suffering four straight days of declines as of Tuesday.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in a tweet, said that he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sat with Trump while he wrote out the announcement on Truth Social, “one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency.”
“The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction,” Lutnick wrote.
By: Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu, Reuters, CNBC, Dan Mangan
Updated as of 8th April 2025:
US forges ahead with 104% tariffs on China, says willing to talk to other countries
President Donald Trump is set to impose an astounding 104% in levies across all Chinese imports on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Tuesday. This comes on top of Chinese tariffs that were in place prior to Trump’s second term.
China was already set to see tariffs increase by 34% on Wednesday as part of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs package. But the president tacked on another 50% after Beijing didn’t back off its promise to impose 34% retaliatory tariffs on US goods by noon Tuesday, adding an additional 84% in duties.
Earlier Tuesday, China’s Commerce Ministry said it “firmly opposes” the additional 50% tariffs on Chinese imports, calling it “a mistake upon a mistake.” The ministry vowed to escalate its retaliation on US exports.
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US stocks, which soared Tuesday morning, began moving lower off Leavitt’s comments. By 3 p.m. ET the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 were all in negative territory.
“Countries like China, who have chosen to retaliate and try to double down on their mistreatment of American workers, are making a mistake,” Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. “President Trump has a spine of steel, and he will not break.”
“The Chinese want to make a deal, they just don’t know how to do it,” she added. She declined to share what, if any, terms Trump would consider to lower tariffs on China.
Trump initially imposed a 10% tariff on all Chinese goods in February, with no exceptions, tying it to the country’s alleged role in aiding illegal immigration and getting fentanyl into the US. Last month, he doubled those rates.
China was America’s second largest source of imports last year, shipping a total of $439 billion worth of goods to the US, while the US exported $144 billion worth of goods to China. The mutual tariffs threaten to hurt domestic industries and are poised to result in layoffs
When Trump’s first term ended, the US charged an average tariff rate of 19.3% on Chinese goods, according to a Peterson Institute for International Economic analysis. The Biden administration kept most of Trump’s tariffs in place while also adding additional ones, bringing the average rate to 20.8%.
Come Wednesday, the total average tariff on Chinese exports to the US will soar to nearly 125%.
While previous rounds of Chinese tariffs caused more American businesses to look to other foreign countries like Mexico and Vietnam to manufacture goods, China remained the top foreign source of several items.
That includes, among others, toys, communication equipment such as smartphones, computers and a wide range of other consumer electronics. All these goods are likely to cost US consumers substantially more soon.
U.S. stocks retreated on the news. Global markets had previously posted gains on hopes that Trump might be willing to negotiate down the array of country and product-specific trade barriers he is erecting around the world's largest consumer market. Trump's sweeping tariffs have raised fears of recession and upended a global trading order that has been in place for decades.
"Right now, we've received the instruction to prioritize our allies and our trading partners like Japan and Korea and others," White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Fox News.
The White House said Trump instructed his trade team to create "tailor made" deals for the nearly 70 countries that have reached out for talks.
Trump's lead trade negotiator, Jamieson Greer, told Congress that his office is trying to work quickly but is not facing a particular deadline.
"The president has been clear, again, that he's not doing exemptions or exceptions in the near term," Greer told lawmakers.
China is bracing for a war of attrition, and manufacturers are warning about profits and scrambling to plan new overseas plants. Citing rising external risks, Citi cut its 2025 China GDP growth forecast to 4.2% from 4.7%.
Dozens of countries set to see higher tariffs soon, too
Dozens of other countries as well as the European Union also face a midnight deadline for new tariff rates. Those rates, which Trump laid out last week, range from 11% to 50%.
Leavitt told reporters that despite several conversations with world leaders aiming to negotiate lower tariff rates, Trump has little appetite to delay his plans.
Having spoken with Trump earlier on Tuesday, Leavitt said, “He expects that these tariffs are going to go into effect.”
At the same time, she said Trump instructed his trade team to make “tailor-made” deals with countries that want to negotiate. Pressed further on whether the president had any timeline or deadline for the trade deals, Leavitt again reiterated that they won’t be “off-the-rack deals.” Canada announces entry into force of countermeasures against auto imports from the United States
The Minister of Finance, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, today confirmed that Canada’s new countermeasures announced last week in response to the unjustified tariffs imposed by the United States on the Canadian auto industry will come into force at 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 9.
As the Prime Minister indicated on April 3, this includes:
Twenty-five per cent tariffs on non- Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) compliant fully assembled vehicles imported into Canada from the United States.
Twenty-five per cent tariffs on non-Canadian and non-Mexican content of CUSMA compliant fully assembled vehicles imported into Canada from the United States.
A remission framework for auto producers that incentivizes production and investment in Canada, and helps maintain Canadian jobs, will also be implemented. Further details of this framework will be announced shortly.
Minister Champagne also announced that the government has granted a special exemption from previous tariff countermeasures on U.S. consumer and household products to the residents of Campobello Island, New Brunswick. This special exemption is in recognition of the island’s unique situation, which is only accessible by road via the United States year-round.
“Canada continues to respond forcefully to all unwarranted and unreasonable tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canadian products. The government is firmly committed to getting these U.S. tariffs removed as soon as possible, and will protect Canada’s workers, businesses, economy and industry.”- The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance
On March 4, 2025, U.S. tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy and potash exports from Canada to the U.S. came into effect. The U.S. subsequently limited these tariffs to non-CUSMA compliant goods.
On March 12, 2025, the U.S. imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian steel and aluminum products.
On April 3, U.S. tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian automobiles came into effect, targeting the auto industry and the more than 500,000 Canadians this industry supports across the country.
The U.S. also intends to apply 25 per cent tariffs on certain automobile parts on May 3. Under the U.S. tariffs certain exclusions linked to U.S. content may be available, specifically the application of the 25 per cent tariff only to the value of the non-U.S. content in automobiles and auto parts that qualify for preferential tariff treatment under CUSMA.
Canada has responded to the U.S. imposition of tariffs on Canadian goods by introducing a suite of countermeasures designed to compel the U.S. to remove the tariffs as soon as possible. These countermeasures include:
Imposing tariffs of 25 per cent on $30 billion in goods imported from the U.S., effective March 4, 2025.
Holding a public comment period on potential counter tariffs on additional imports from the U.S.
Imposing, as of March 13, 2025, 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on a list of steel products worth $12.6 billion and aluminum products worth $3 billion, as well as additional imported U.S. goods worth $14.2 billion, for a total of $29.8 billion.
Imposing, as of April 9, 25 per cent tariffs on non-CUSMA compliant U.S.-made vehicles, and on the non-Canadian and non-Mexican content of CUSMA compliant U.S.-made vehicles. Vehicle imports from the U.S. totalled $35.6 billion in 2024. By: Department of Finance, BBC, CNN, Samantha Waldenberg, Susan Heavey, Trevor Hunnicutt, Joe Cash, Reuters
Updated as of 3rd April 2025:
“Liberation Day” turned out to be alarming. President Trump floored investors by announcing the largest tax hike on Americans since at least the 1940s.
April 2, which Trump called “Liberation Day,” was Trump’s deadline for unveiling a sweeping set of taxes on imports that almost nobody in the investing universe saw coming. For the first two months of his presidency, Trump had threatened tariffs, imposed some, delayed others, and generally left market watchers hoping his bark would be worse than his bite.
His bite turned out worse than his bark. The April 2 announcements included two sets of import tariffs. One is a new “universal” tax on imports from everywhere. The average tariff rate on imports at the start of the year was about 2.5%. So the 10% universal tariff on its own would raise the average tariff to 12.5%. That would be the highest since around 1940.
Trump Announces Reciprocal Tariffs Rates for 185 Countries:
Much beefier are “reciprocal” tariffs that are supposed to punish US trade partners that impose tougher barriers on imports from the United States than vice versa. To come up with those figures, Trump measured not just the taxes other nations impose on US imports but 14 categories of “nonmonetary” actions that Trump says keep American products out of foreign markets. That led to the eye-popping “reciprocal” taxes Trump now plans to impose on products from dozens of countries.
The current average tariff on imports from China, for instance, is about 3%. Trump wants to raise that to 34%. For Japanese imports, the tax will rise from 1.6% to 24%. For products from Europe, the tax will rise from the 2% range to 20%. The universal 10% tariff is scheduled to start on April 5, while the reciprocal tariffs are set to go into effect April 9. Unlike any change to income taxes or most other taxes, which require congressional legislation, Trump can impose tariffs on his own authority.
Some of the Trump taxes are “stacked,” which means that multiple new tariffs might apply to some products. The matrix of overlapping new taxes compounds the confusion businesses already have to deal with as they try to understand what costs are likely to rise and by how much.
Americans bought about $3.3 trillion worth of imports in 2024. The tariff rate of about 2.5% yielded a tariff tax bill of about $83 billion. Investing firm Evercore estimates that all the new tariffs combined will push the tax rate on imports to about 29%.
If import purchases stayed the same, that would raise the tariff bill to about $960 billion, making it an $880 billion tax hike paid by American businesses and consumers. “It’s the biggest tax hike on Americans since the 1940s,” trade expert Inu Manak of the Council on Foreign Relations told Yahoo Finance on April 2. “The only thing these tariffs are going to do is increase costs.”
Economists are now busy trying to figure out whether the shock to corporate profits, stock values, and consumer wallets will be enough to cause a recession. Imports are only about one-tenth of total US GDP, which is nearly $30 trillion. So, as sweeping as the Trump tariffs are, they won’t affect everything in the US economy.
They will have major knock-on effects, though. When imported products get more expensive, it allows manufacturers of competing domestic products to raise prices too. It’s also a near certainty that trade partners will retaliate against Trump’s tariffs with their own punitive measures on US exports, which will dent revenue and profits for US exports and further hurt growth.
Economists have already been lowering their forecasts for economic growth and raising their inflation estimates on account of Trump tariffs. Shortly before Trump’s badly misnamed "Liberation Day," Goldman Sachs raised its odds of a US recession within 12 months from 20% to 25%. The risk of recession is certainly higher now.
“US growth is now headed for stall speed, and maybe worse than that,” Brett Ryan, senior US economist at Deutsche Bank, told Yahoo Finance on April 2. “If not an outright recession, this certainly raises the risk of one.”
If there’s any solace for investors, it’s that Trump can put the lightning back in the bottle just as fast as he unleashed it. Some trade partners may make concessions that lead to lower tariff rates. There are also likely to be thousands of case-by-case exemptions in which the Trump administration waives tariffs for companies facing particular hardships.
Trump claims that high taxes on imports will lead to more domestic manufacturing and a revival of US manufacturing. In the best case, however, that will take years and generate uncertain results. The worst case may be what investors are facing now.
By: Rick Newman, Yahoo Finance