Trump tells foreign leaders to ‘terminate your own tariffs’, while imposing minimum 10 per cent blanket tariff on exporters to US
Photo: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” is finally here and with it, a fresh round of reciprocal tariffs imposed on countries across the globe.
Trump announced on Wednesday a sweeping new tariff framework that would introduce a 10 per cent baseline tax on all imports into the United States, alongside elevated rates for countries that run significant trade surpluses with the US.
Framing the move as a long-overdue correction of trade imbalances, “Our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by foreign nations taking advantage of America’s open markets, declared Trump.
“April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again,” Trump said, beginning his speech at the White House Rose Garden.
Trump started his speech to focus on foreign-made automobiles.
“Effective at midnight, we will impose a 25-percent tariff on all foreign-made automobiles,” said Trump, before calling up a member of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union who raved the tariffs.
While holding a chart, Trump outlined a retaliatory tariff strategy that could have significant implications for global trade flows and multinational portfolios. His proposal centres on the idea of reciprocal trade, with the US imposing tariffs at half the rate that other countries currently apply to American exports.
Citing examples of tariff asymmetries, Trump noted that if the European Union imposes a 39 per cent duty on US goods, the US will respond with a 20 per cent tariff. Proposed rates for key trading partners include 46 per cent tax on imports from Vietnam, 34 per cent on China, 26 per cent on India and 24 per cent on Japan.
Trump emphasized that many of these tariffs would be based on a reciprocal discount model, referring to them as “kind tariffs.”
“If you want your tariff rate to be zero,” Trump said, “then you build your product right in America.”
These measures build on earlier proposals that include 25 per cent tariffs on auto imports, as well as expanded trade penalties targeting China, Canada, Mexico, and metals sectors such as steel and aluminium.
Notably, Canada and Mexico will seemingly continue to be exempt from reciprocal tariff measures under the terms of the USMCA trade agreement. Following the announcement, the Canadian dollar strengthened modestly, closing at 70.25 cents US in late-day trading.
Details of Trump’s tariff plans were unclear hours before the president’s scheduled afternoon speech. Canada’s main stock index fell .50 per cent early Wednesday ahead of Trump’s announcement, after performing strong for two consecutive days.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 stock index was roughly flat in trading Wednesday as US investors hoped to have more certainty about his agenda.
Additionally, economists have also asserted the move threatens to plunge the economy into a downturn and upend decades-old alliances.
Speaking to “all of the foreign presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, ambassadors and everyone else who will soon be calling to ask for exemptions from these tariffs”, Trump offered a message.
“I say, ‘Terminate your own tariffs. Drop your barriers.'”
