Trump Administration narrows April 2nd tariffs

The White House is narrowing its approach to tariffs set to take effect on April 2, likely omitting a set of industry-specific tariffs while applying reciprocal levies on a targeted set of nations that account for the bulk of foreign trade with the U.S.

President Trump declared his April 2nd deadline to be “Liberation Day” for the US, when he will put reciprocal tariffs in place that seek to equalize US tariffs with the tariffs that Canada imposes on many US goods.

President Trump also hinted that there would be room for “talk” on trade issues with China, adding he hoped to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the near term. The focus of the reciprocal action now looks to be more targeted than originally thought, according to people with knowledge of the planning, though it will still hit countries that account for most of the U.S.’s imports.

The administration is now focusing on applying tariffs to about 15% of nations with persistent trade imbalances with the U.S.—a so-called “dirty 15,” as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put it last week.

Those nations, which Bessent said account for most of the U.S.’s foreign trade, will be especially hard-hit with higher tariffs, said people with knowledge of the matter, though other nations could be given more modest tariffs as well.

President Trump has repeatedly imposed tariffs on multiple countries, before temporarily giving reprieves, but it seems that those reprieves will end on April 2nd, barring a quick negotiation.

It is still unclear the exact goals that the Trump administration has with his tariffs, and if what he is doing is an effective way to gain long term benefit for the United States.

But Mr Trump has often been underestimated, and often done things that prima facie seemed to be detrimental, only to obtain positive results. With that in mind, we should be slow to make pronouncements, until we see how this plays out.