Trump Pumps the Brakes on Enormous Tariff Increases, Saying He May Give ‘a Break’ to ‘a Lot of Countries’

President Trump is signaling to Wall Street that his “reciprocal tariffs” due next week may not be as broad as some are expecting, saying that he may be giving a “a break” to a number of countries just as he did with Canada and Mexico. Beyond the reciprocal tariffs, Mr. Trump also says he’s eyeing additional levies on automobiles and lumber. Mr. Trump has long said that the United States is being ripped off by other nations that he says impose high tariffs on American goods. Since returning to the White House, his erratic approach to tariffs has created turmoil in the stock market and contributed to voters’ lack of confidence in his ability to guide the economy. Mr. Trump says that while he is still planning his reciprocal tariffs on April 2 — which he calls “Liberation Day” — there could be serious carve-outs for favored nations or industries. “Well, I may give a lot of countries breaks, but it’s reciprocal, but we might be even nicer than that,” Mr. Trump said at the White House on Monday. “You know, we’ve been very nice to a lot of countries for a long time, but I call it ‘Liberation Day’ — April 2nd is liberation day.”When asked for specifics about how he would treat individual countries, Mr. Trump pointed to his announcement on Monday that countries purchasing Venezuelan oil would face additional penalties. That 25 percent tariff, he says, will kick in on April 2. “Today, as you know, we did something with respect to Venezuela. You heard about that, and that will be quite important,” Mr. Trump said. The president further announced that he is looking at tariffs on certain industries — specifically for cars and lumber — which experts have warned would significantly increase costs for everyday Americans looking to buy an automobile or build a home. “We’ll be announcing some additional tariffs over the next few days having to do with automobiles — cars — and having also to do, a little bit, with lumber down the road — lumber and [computer] chips. We’re gonna get all those chip companies coming back. They’re already coming back without even doing [tariffs]” Mr. Trump said at the White House. “We’ll be announcing some others, but for the most part, April 2nd will be a big day,” he said. “That’ll be ‘Reciprocal Day,’ and we’ll be bringing some of the money back that’s been taken from us.”Mr. Trump has simultaneously claimed that the tariff scheme will be a revenue generator for the United States but also a negotiating tool he can use to get other countries to lower trade barriers. He said Monday that the European Union was lowering its tariffs on American-made cars, a claim its trade representatives have denied. “It happened. [The] European Union lowered their tariffs to two-and-a-half percent,” Mr. Trump claimed. “[The] European Union lowered their number from much higher than that — many, many, many times higher.”The chaos and uncertainty surrounding the tariffs have especially affected financial markets, which do not seem prepared for the president’s ever-changing numbers and targets for the tariff hikes. Early in March, after Canada announced tariffs in response to Mr. Trump’s levies, the president then turned around to say he would double American tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum only to back down from that threat within days. On March 19, the Federal Reserve announced that it is projecting higher rates of inflation and slower rates of economic growth for the year, in part because of “uncertainty” in the market caused by the tariffs. The central bank now predicts an inflation rate of 2.7 percent for the year, up from the previous estimate of 2.5 percent, while economic growth is expected to fall to 1.7 percent in 2025, down from their 2.1 predicted by the bank in December. The Fed further revised growth rate expectations to just 1.8 percent for both 2026 and 2027.

Trump Pumps the Brakes on Enormous Tariff Increases, Saying He May Give ‘a Break’ to ‘a Lot of Countries’

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