Any economic concerns over President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff policies could be exacerbated soon.
White House staffers are getting ready to impose new tariffs on a variety of imports on April 2, a move observers think could escalate economic hostilities around the world.
The U.S. has already raised tariffs on some $800 billion in imports from China, Mexico and Canada. These tariffs have sent the stock market cratering and raised the risks of a U.S. recession, according to many economists. Several countries have either already retaliated – Mexico and Canada among them – or threatened to.
The Washington Post reported this week that the potential to more than double the scope of U.S. tariffs has alarmed economists and some congressional Republicans.
“The last two months have already hurt American businesses and consumers, but the April 2 deadline seriously could make all of that look like a tempest in a teapot,” Joseph Politano, an economic policy analyst at Apricitas Economics, told The Post. “We don’t know exactly what they’re going to do, but from what they’re saying, it sounds functionally like new tariffs on all U.S. imports.”
The internal preparations suggest Trump remains unbowed in his push to upend the global trade order, despite deepening unease among allies on Capitol Hill and Wall Street and outright fury from overseas. Trump has said the tariffs are necessary to encourage companies to move production back to the United States and force concessions from foreign trading partners, but the fallout has rattled investors and consumers, leading to declines in several key economic indicators.
“It’s a liberation day for our country because we’re going to be getting back a lot of the wealth that we so foolishly gave up to other countries, including friend and foe,” Trump told reporters on Monday.
Trump has referred to the upcoming round of tariffs as “reciprocal tariffs,” an idea he first espoused during the 2024 campaign. His argument: Other countries impose far higher trade barriers on U.S. exports than the U.S. government charges on imports. Trump has said the United States should match these tariffs with “reciprocal” duties that he believes will force other countries to lower their duties on U.S.-made products.
“If India, China, or any other country hits us with a 100 or 200% tariff on American-made goods, we will hit them with the same exact tariff,” Trump said in a video released during the presidential campaign. “In other words, 100% is 100%. If they charge us, we charge them — an eye for an eye, a tariff for a tariff, same exact amount.”
Edward Gresser, a former trade official now serving as the vice president and director of trade and global markets for the Progressive Policy Institute, told The Post the plan for reciprocal tariffs could return the average U.S. tariff to 1930s levels.
Gresser said Trump’s actions would be unprecedented, and many experts have argued the president does not have the authority to impose such sweeping tariffs without congressional approval, according to The Post.
