MNI BRIEF: Trump Announces 10% Universal, Reciprocal Tariffs

U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled Wednesday at the White House a new 10% baseline tariff on all imported goods, in addition to reciprocal tariffs on around 60 countries, and other sectoral tariffs from autos to semiconductors. 

A 10% basic baseline tariff on all countries will go into effect on April 5 at 12:01am ET, according to senior administration officials. Then products from around 60 countries that will be labelled as worst offenders will see an additional reciprocal tariff that will go into effect on April 9 at 12:01am ET. Senior White House officials expect the new tariffs to raise hundreds of billions of dollars in any given year and trillions over a ten year period. 

In addition, certain sectors that are covered by Section 232 actions, such as autos and auto parts, steel and aluminum, and lumber and copper will likely see specific tariffs shortly. President Trump is also looking at tariffs with respect to semiconductors and pharmaceuticals and potentially critical minerals. Those types of products will be covered by those specific tariff regimes, and not the new tariff regime announced today, senior administration officials said. 

Canada and Mexico will continue to be subject to the national emergency related to fentanyl and migration, and will remain subject to that regime and not the new one. In the event that the fentanyl and migration tariffs are terminated or suspended then they will default to the new tariff regime. (See: MNI INTERVIEW: US Factories Set For Contraction On Tariffs-ISM) 

Trump said all imported cars would face a 25% import tariff across the board.