Trump's 'Liberation Day' Tariffs begin immediately, Says White House
President Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs will take effect immediately, as announced by the White House. This aggressive move has left many uncertain about its implications. Trump has yet to clarify whether the tariffs will be universal or targeted. The announcement has sparked mixed reactions among his advisers and international trading partners.
Washington, DC [US], April 2 (ANI): In an action causing widespread unease, President Trump's eagerly awaited tariffs are scheduled to be implemented sooner than anticipated—effective immediately, the White House announced on Tuesday.
CNN reported that while many specifics are still unclear, possibly even to Trump, the administration's 'Liberation Day' trade policy announcement is anticipated to be the most forceful tariff action by the most tariff-focused president in recent history.
Trump will meet with his trade team on Tuesday, and the tariffs he announces at a Rose Garden ceremony at 4 pm ET on Wednesday will be implemented 'immediately,' according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during a press briefing.
While speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump stated, that hat he'd "settled" on a plan for sweeping new tariffs to be announced midweek, catching some White House officials by surprise: If the president had indeed arrived at a final decision for the tariffs, it hadn't yet been widely shared inside the building, as per CNN.
Still unclear is whether Trump plans to levy individual tariff rates on all US trading partners, put tariffs on only some countries, or apply a universal tariff -- perhaps as high as 20 per cent -- on all imports. Trump's advisers are publicly supportive of Trump's tariff agenda, but they differ in approach and scope behind the scenes.
Meanwhile, recently, Trump said that he had heard that India was dropping its tariffs on American goods substantially.
"I think I heard that India just a little while ago is going to be dropping its tariffs very substantially and I said why didn't somebody do this a long time ago," he said.
Trump was asked if his tariffs- which are to be effective from Wednesday- may push countries to side with China, to which he promptly said that the tariffs would actually help the countries do better.
He did not explain how that would be.
"No, I'm not worried about it. I think they have a chance of doing better with the tariffs. It can actually help them in a certain way, and I think a lot of them will drop their tariffs because they've been unfairly tariffing the United States for years," he said.
Trump said that the European Union had dropped its tariffs on US-made cars to 2.5 per cent.
"If you look at the European Union- on cars, the European Union already dropped their tariff down to 2.5 per cent. It was announced a couple of days ago, which is a very small tariff the United States charged," he said.
Trump will unveil a new tariff plan on April 2, which he has dubbed "Liberation Day," in his first Rose Garden press conference of his second term, CNN reported. (ANI)