President Donald Trump has repeatedly scorched decades of unfair trading practices for hindering the United States’ economy. He dubbed Wednesday, April 2, “
Liberation Day” for America, unveiling a sweeping list of new tariffs targeting nations — both friends and adversaries — that have long burdened the U.S. with far higher fees than it has placed on them in return.

The administration had previously
announced that it planned to roll out “reciprocal tariffs,” explaining that the U.S. would begin imposing balanced fees. Trump left room for some exceptions to this rule, noting that countries fueling America’s illegal immigration and drug crisis would face significantly higher tariff rates.

‘They charge us; we charge them.’

While Trump and his Cabinet have maintained that increasing tariffs will boost the U.S. economy, his Democratic critics and their corporate media allies contend it will have the opposite effect — passing the increased costs of imports on to American consumers. Everything from vehicles to everyday necessities, including gas and groceries, will skyrocket, according to Trump’s detractors.

The fierce backlash and potential economic uncertainty of the unprecedented tariff hikes appeared to influence Trump to dial back his initial plan to implement across-the-board equal tariffs. Instead, on Wednesday, he revealed that most of the increases, while still reciprocal, are capped at about half the levels other nations currently slap on the U.S.

The new reciprocal tariffs

On
Wednesday afternoon, Trump announced the administration’s final decision on tariffs while highlighting how America has been treated unfairly.

Trump held up a chart listing the new “discounted reciprocal tariffs” next to “tariffs charged to the U.S.A.,” which he noted factored in currency manipulation and trade barriers, not tariff rates alone.

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The chart listed China as charging the U.S. 67%.

“We’re going to be charging a discounted reciprocal tariff of 34%,” Trump said, referring to China. “They charge us; we charge them. We charge them less, so how can anybody be upset?”

“They will be because we never charge anybody anything,” he added.

Trump continued down the chart, stating that the European Union has been “very tough traders.”

“They rip us off,” the president declared.

‘For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike.’

Trump noted that most of his administration’s reciprocal tariffs would amount to about half the rates foreign countries currently levy against the U.S. However, he stated that the administration would implement a 10% minimum baseline. For example, according to the chart, the U.S. will match the United Kingdom’s and Brazil’s 10% rate.

The administration rolled out the new tariff rates to address the U.S.’ $1.2 trillion trade deficit. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, 15% of countries compose America’s most significant trade deficits. He dubbed those nations the “dirty 15” in a March interview with
Fox Business.

In its reasoning for the baseline rate, the White House cited a 2024 economic
analysis that found a global 10% tariff would generate $728 billion and 2.8 million new jobs.

High tariffs against the US

Trump highlighted instances when foreign countries imposed steep tariffs against the U.S., pulling data from the U.S. Trade Representative’s
2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” he claimed.

“Let me offer just a few examples of the vicious attacks our workers have faced for so many years,” Trump continued. “The United States charges other countries only a 2.4% tariff on motorcycles. Meanwhile, Thailand and others are charging much higher prices, like 60%. India charges 70%. Vietnam charges 75%. And others are even higher than that.”

Trump also explained that the U.S. charged only 2.5% on foreign-made automobiles, while the European Union imposes over 10% tariffs with 20% VAT fees, and India charges 70%.

“Perhaps worst of all are the non-monetary restrictions imposed by South Korea, Japan, and very many other nations,” he added. “Toyota sells 1 million foreign-made automobiles into the United States, and General Motors sells almost none. Ford sells very little.”

As a result of the “horrendous imbalances,” Trump revealed that the U.S. would impose a 25% tariff on all foreign vehicles.

Trump stated that Canada imposed a 250% to 300% tariff on dairy products.

“China charges American rice farmers an over-quota, it’s called, tariff rate of 65%,” he stated.

‘Official trade data appears to show that China fell far short of implementing its commitments to purchase US goods and services.’

According to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, a tariff quota, or a two-tiered tariff, allows countries to impose a lower rate for initial imports and a higher rate for later ones.

Trump also noted that South Korea charges American rice farmers rates between 50% and 513%, while Japan imposes 700%.

A White House
fact sheet from Wednesday highlighted several more “unfair tariff disparities,” stating that the U.S. sets a 0% tariff on networking switches and routers, while India charges 10% to 20%.

“Brazil (18%) and Indonesia (30%) impose a higher tariff on ethanol than does the United States (2.5%),” it read. “Apples enter the United States duty-free, but not so in Turkey (60.3%) and India (50%).”

Trump’s critics have claimed that his recent increased tariffs will result in higher costs for American consumers, with some countries imposing their own retaliatory fees. However, the administration argued that the U.S. has been mistreated for decades — long before Trump hiked any rates.

While Democrats continue to paint a picture that Trump’s increases will spell disaster, a 2018 report from the
Pew Research Center stated that U.S. tariffs were “among the lowest in the world.”

“In 2016, according to the World Bank, the average applied U.S. tariff across all products was 1.61%; that was about the same as the average rate of 1.6% for the 28-nation EU, and not much higher than Japan’s 1.35%,” the report read.

However, it noted that the “average rates are weighted by product import shares with all of each nation’s trading partners, and don’t necessarily reflect the provisions of specific trade deals.”

In other words, these averages include all trade with every nation, so the actual tariffs imposed on the U.S. could be lower or even much higher depending on the product and the partner country.

China

The USTR’s latest annual foreign barriers report, cited by Trump, further exposed unequal trade practices between the U.S. and other nations, dedicating a significant portion of the document to detailing obstacles with China.

It stated that China has failed to follow through on implementing some of the “more important commitments” from its January 2020 economic and trade agreement with the U.S. The report specifically pointed to agriculture-related provisions and intellectual property and technology agreements.

“In addition, official trade data appears to show that China fell far short of implementing its commitments to purchase U.S. goods and services, which covered the years 2020 and 2021,” it read.

Prior to China joining the World Trade Organization, an international group dealing with trade rules and agreements, it imposed notoriously steep tariffs on the U.S. China was charging an average of 22.1% on all general imports and up to
100% on vehicles.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has historically imposed a 2.5% tariff on imported foreign vehicles before Trump took office.

Upon joining the WTO in 2001, China consented to bring auto tariffs down to 25% over a six-year period and farm products to 15% or less.

A 2010 USTR
report noted that China had made significant progress in lowering its tariffs after joining the WTO. However, it maintained “high duties on some products that compete with sensitive domestic industries.” According to the report, China imposed 30% tariffs on large motorcycles.

“Likewise, most video, digital video, and audio recorders and players still face duties of approximately 30 percent. Raisins face duties of 35 percent,” the report read.

India

In 2016, the USTR called India’s tariff system “complex and characterized by a lack of transparency in determining net effective rates.”

India, also a part of the WTO, reportedly had significant disparities between its Most Favored Nation rates and its bound rates, which are fees that generally cannot be exceeded for other WTO nations.

“India’s average bound tariff rate was 48.6 percent, while its simple MFN average applied tariff for 2014 was 13.5 percent,” the report stated.

At the time, the WTO listed India’s bound rate at 114%.

“India also maintains very high tariff peaks on a number of goods, including flowers (60 percent), natural rubber (70 percent), automobiles and motorcycles (60 percent to 75 percent), raisins and coffee (100 percent), alcoholic beverages (150 percent), and textiles (some ad valorem equivalent rates exceed 300 percent),” the USTR report read.

European Union

The
USTR reported in 2017 that the EU’s tariffs were “generally low for non-agricultural goods” but listed several higher fees, including 26% for fish and seafood, 10% for vehicles, 22% for trucks, 6.5% for fertilizers and plastics, and 14% for bicycles.

The 2025 updated USTR report revealed that tariffs remained at those same rates.

Brazil

A
1996 UTSR stated that Brazil’s maximum tariff level was 70%, which was down from 105% in 1990.

The USTR’s 2016
report revealed that despite Brazil being a part of the WTO, its maximum tariff rates were steep, including 55% for agricultural goods and up to 35% on industrial products.

“Brazil imposes relatively high tariffs on imports across a wide spread of sectors, including automobiles, automotive parts, information technology and electronics, chemicals, plastics, industrial machinery, steel, and textiles and apparel,” the report found.

The response

The Trump administration anticipates that some countries will respond to the tariff increases by implementing their own retaliatory fees. However, officials remain confident that the U.S. price hikes will bring more economic growth and not less.

Last month, Trump
warned, “It’s going to be very costly for people to take advantage of this country. They can’t come in and steal our money and steal our jobs and take our factories and take our businesses and expect not to be punished.”

‘A long-overdue shift away from a harmful economic framework that has devastated the working class.’

“And they’re being punished by tariffs. It’s a very powerful weapon that politicians haven’t used because they were either dishonest, stupid, or paid off in some other form,” he stated.

Trump committed to removing tariffs for foreign companies that build their products in the U.S. He rattled off a list of businesses that have already agreed to make significant investments in the U.S., including Apple, SoftBank Group, OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Company, and Meta. Trump also noted that several automakers are ramping up American investments.

United Auto Workers members applaud as President Donald Trump announces new tariffs during a Make America Wealthy Again trade announcement event in the Rose Garden on April 2, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump pledged that Liberation Day would go down in history as the turning point that would “make America wealthy again,” stating that “jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country.”

The United Auto Workers, a union that endorsed Trump’s challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris (D), in the 2024 presidential election, has expressed strong
support for the president’s foreign automobile tariffs, calling it “a long-overdue shift away from a harmful economic framework that has devastated the working class.”

During his Wednesday address, Trump highlighted how the imbalanced trade market has also harmed American farmers and ranchers.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association backed Trump’s decision to impose higher tariffs.

“For too long, America’s family farmers and ranchers have been mistreated by certain trading partners around the world. President Trump is taking action to address numerous trade barriers that prevent consumers overseas from enjoying high-quality, wholesome American beef. NCBA will continue engaging with the White House to ensure fair treatment for America’s cattle producers around the world and optimize opportunities for exports abroad,”
said Ethan Lane, the association’s president of government affairs.

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Friday marks the beginning of the fourth month since the 119th Congress convened. It’s been 92 days now, and for such a quick start, lawmakers don’t have a ton to show for it.

Tensions are high in the Capitol. The House of Representatives managed to avert a government shutdown, pass the National Defense Authorization Act, and pass a bill recouping money from unemployment fraud, as well as its own version of the budget, but … that’s about it? With the Senate habitually and reliably doing its own things on its own schedule, there’s still no guarantee that this carefully hammered out, delicately negotiated budget will go as planned.

The first 100 days of any administration will be marked by rapid action, and the Senate isn’t renowned for its speed.

In fairness to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), he’s not working with much: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) resigned after his election but before he could even be sworn in for a new term, so Johnson’s first day of the new Congress, Jan. 3, 2025, ended with a barely manageable four-seat majority.

After that, he lost Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) to the White House and was only even able to claw upward after two special elections went his way and two Democrats literally
died. The realities of this sort of margin are so stark that Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) had to quit her ambition to become ambassador to the United Nations.

Then on Monday, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (yet
another Florida Republican) bucked the post-COVID messaging of her party and pulled together eight of her colleagues with the House Democrats to hold the floor hostage for the entire week. Luna’s tantrum caused a completely unforced mess for Republicans and forced Johnson to recess until the president himself can hammer out a deal with her to defuse the legislative booby trap she’s placed, which would force a vote on remote voting for members just about as soon as Johnson gavels back in.

(By the way, having alienated the Freedom Caucus and House leadership in one swing, Luna should listen to her last remaining friend — the president — and straighten up.)

On its side of the building, the Senate is faring little better. Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) achieved a pretty admirable and rapid succession of wins on a slate of contested White House nominations but seems to have surrendered much of the rest to process. And little is more frustrating than letting “process” play out in public, where different senators seemingly operate on their own planets.

What exactly is the upper chamber’s plan for the budget? Thune has just 53 Republicans, and at least a few — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and of course Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — are almost guaranteed to give him hell on any single vote.

To pass the budget, Thune must use reconciliation — a complicated but useful tool that lets you push through legislation with just 51 votes, as long as everything in it pertains to the budget. Both parties seem bullish, and for once, Republicans in the House and Senate are actually speaking to each other. Still, plenty can go wrong.

It’s a painful place to be. Finger-pointing is everywhere, and several lawmakers are being called out for not doing their jobs. (Looking at you, Mike Crapo of Idaho — how’s that Senate budget coming along?) So far, Congress has managed to keep the lights on and the White House grooving, but that’s about it.

Now compare that performance to the administration’s plan: pass border enforcement funding, then move quickly on taxes and a full budget — all within the first 90 days. It’s not great.

Of course, these things take time. The first 100 days of any administration will be marked by rapid action, and the Senate isn’t renowned for its speed. As one Republican staffer conceded, “Well, this is what governing with these kinds of numbers looks like!”

We’re at the high-water mark. The Democrats’ vacancies are going to be filled, the president’s momentum will slow, the pain of reshoring the American economy will start to come home, and the distant midterm elections will grow closer and closer and closer. This is the time. It’s not going to get any easier. The Senate best not forget that reality.

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