Trump announces sweeping tariffs ranging from 10 to 49%, will increase cost of everything

President Trump has announced new sweeping tariffs ranging from 10 to 49% on virtually every trade partner, which will increase the cost of almost everything in the US.

At an event referred to as both “make America wealthy again” and “liberation day” today, Trump has yet again updated his plans for sweeping tariffs on imported goods.

As usual, these plans are subject to change, as they have consistently changed over the last two months, but the President announced that they will now go into effect at midnight with two new executive orders:

• a closing of the de minimis loophole.
• a “reciprocal tariffs” order, which Trump describes as implementing tariffs equivalent to half the tariffs imposed by each country on the US.

As of the time of writing, the White House has yet to release the details on its website, but based on chart that Trump brought on stage at the event, it looks like it will result in tariffs ranging from 10 to 49% depending on the country.

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It is being described as a 10% tariff on all imported goods plus an additional punitive tariff based on the perceived tariffs implemented by the country of origin, although Trump’s claims on foreign tariffs have been questioned before.

For example, it will result in 34% tariffs on all goods coming from China and 20% tariffs on everything coming from the European Union.

Separately, the President confirmed that the 25% tariffs on all foreign vehicles announced last week are also going into effect.

We shared a list of where electric vehicles available in the US are assembled to help people understand the impact of the tariffs on the EV industry.

However, the impact is expected to be much broader as automakers start taking into accounts the increased cost of parts from these new tariffs.

The US stock markets crashed on the news. Several countries confirmed that they plan to announce responses to the sweeping new tariffs.

Update: Here are some updates now that the White House has released the fact sheet on its website. Some of the statements included in the fact sheet unsurprisingly contradict what Trump announced on stage:

• Using his IEEPA authority, President Trump will impose a 10% tariff on all countries. -This will take effect April 5, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. EDT.
• President Trump will impose an individualized reciprocal higher tariff on the countries with which the United States has the largest trade deficits. All other countries will continue to be subject to the original 10% tariff baseline. -This will take effect April 9, 2025 at 12:01 a.m. EDT.
• Some goods will not be subject to the Reciprocal Tariff. These include: (1) articles subject to 50 USC 1702(b); (2) steel/aluminum articles and autos/auto parts already subject to Section 232 tariffs; (3) copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and lumber articles; (4) all articles that may become subject to future Section 232 tariffs; (5) bullion; and (6) energy and other certain minerals that are not available in the United States.
• For Canada and Mexico, the existing fentanyl/migration IEEPA orders remain in effect, and are unaffected by this order. This means USMCA compliant goods will continue to see a 0% tariff, non-USMCA compliant goods will see a 25% tariff, and non-USMCA compliant energy and potash will see a 10% tariff. In the event the existing fentanyl/migration IEEPA orders are terminated, USMCA compliant goods would continue to receive preferential treatment, while non-USMCA compliant goods would be subject to a 12% reciprocal tariff.

Electrek’s Take

This is getting boring. Trump does a big show about tariffs, saying they come into effect at midnight. Then, the actual release comes out saying that there are still a few days before it comes into effect—and therefore, plenty of time to fold again.

This has been going on for two months now.

The main results of the announcements are confusion and loss of credibility. I can almost guarantee that many of those tariffs will be removed before they go into effect later this week and next week.

He is even imposing a 10% tariff on countries that have trade deficits with the US. It makes no sense and destroys his own argument.

I can only assume he is going to try to sell them exemptions.

For the EV industry, like all cars, you can expect prices to go up, and therefore, the market will get smaller as fewer people can afford to buy new EVs. It might create a similar situation as during the pandemic, when used EV prices increased quite a bit with the new ones.

Now, the US also needs to wait for other countries’ responses.