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Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs are about to be announced. Here’s what to expect

By CNN

Published April 2, 2025 8:36 am

CNN

By Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” is here. Many Americans might soon feel the opposite, though.

For months, Trump has kept much of America in the dark about his trade plans, which have tremendous implications for the economy, small businesses and household finances. At 4 p.m. ET, Trump has promised he will answer at least some of the burning questions.

But Wednesday’s announcement, which the White House has billed as a “Make America Wealthy Again event,” likely won’t offer much relief to businesses that have been craving certainty since Trump’s November victory. Rather, it will open a whole new can of worms as countries respond to new tariffs with countermeasures on American goods, setting the stage for a new phase of negotiations that could escalate an already bitter trade war.

The tariffs already in place and the uncertainty from the ones Trump has yet to announce have already dragged down the US economy at a precarious time, when a growing share of consumers are struggling financially.

His latest round of tariffs is set to be the most substantial package in decades. For consumers, it risks quickly raising prices of everyday goods as many are still reeling from the highest inflation levels in 40 years and feeling crunched by high interest rates.

Although Trump told reporters Monday night that he has “settled” on a tariff plan, he spent much of Tuesday huddled with his top trade advisers and spoke with allies who presented him with ideas on how best to move forward with his trade policy, sources familiar with the talks told CNN.

As of late Tuesday, the White House had not arrived at a final decision, CNN reported.

Among the plans being considered were customizing tariff rates for each US trading partner, levying tariffs on certain countries but not others or imposing a flat rate as high as 20% on all imports. One White House official told CNN that they didn’t believe Trump would arrive at a decision until the hours before Wednesday’s Rose Garden event.

One sign of the 11th-hour modifications that have been going on behind the scenes came Wednesday shortly before noon, when the Commerce Department announced it was revising the 25% aluminum tariffs that went into effect earlier this month to include all beer and empty aluminum can imports.

Meanwhile, the new set of tariffs Trump announces Wednesday will be “effective immediately,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. Logistically, that would likely be difficult to implement, leaving America’s trading partners with little time to negotiate. That raises the likelihood that they would respond by immediately imposing countermeasures such as retaliatory tariffs.

But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Republican lawmakers on Tuesday that the tariffs Trump moves forward with will act as a cap and can be negotiated down, a person familiar with the conversation told CNN.

Trump’s tariff ambitions explained

Trump views tariffs as a means of achieving four main goals: curbing the flow of fentanyl and illegal migration into the US, leveling the playing field with trade partners, raising government revenue and boosting domestic manufacturing.

He’s tied fentanyl and border-related issues to the 20% tariffs he’s already levied on Chinese imports and the 25% tariffs he’s threatened for Canada and Mexico.

In Trump’s view, the United States is being “ripped off” by countries with higher tariff rates on US-made products or countries with which the US runs a trade deficit — that is, nations from which America imports more than it exports. He said that’s the reasoning for pursuing reciprocal tariffs, which could also take into account what the Trump administration perceives as non-tariff trade barriers such as value added taxes (VATs) and digital services taxes (DSTs).

These tariffs could hit developing countries particularly hard, especially India, Brazil, Vietnam and some African nations. These governments have some of the largest differences in tariff rates charged on US goods brought into their countries compared to what the US charges them, according to a recent Morgan Stanley analysis.

The investment bank’s economists note that Brazil, Indonesia, India, Thailand and Vietnam have the highest proportion of products with a greater than 5% tariff differential compared to the rate at which the US taxes their goods.

But many countries in the European Union also have VATs and DSTs, making one of America’s largest trading partners a likely target for higher tariffs.

Retaliatory tariffs on deck

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sought to put Trump on notice Tuesday, saying the EU has “a strong plan” for striking back at the US. Various other countries, including Canada, Mexico, China, Japan and South Korea, have also been firming up retaliatory plans.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in comments published Tuesday by state broadcaster CCTV that Beijing would “counterattack” if the US continues to engage in “blackmail.”

“‘America First’ should not be American bullying, and it should not build its own interests on the basis of damaging the legitimate rights and interests of other countries,” he was quoted as telling RT, a state-owned Russian news group.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday she will unveil “a comprehensive program” in response to Trump’s tariffs on Thursday. While Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne promised a “strong response” involving new reciprocal tariffs on US goods that will be announced later in the day.

Israel took a different approach: It announced that it would cancel all of its tariffs on US goods on Tuesday, becoming the first country to do so since Trump’s reelection. The move was likely intended to take the country off the president’s radar, though Israel had only a limited amount of tariffs on US exports.

However, countries that follow in Israel’s footsteps may not be shielded entirely from tariffs.

Already, Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports and a 25% tariff on foreign cars that is set to go into effect on Thursday. A 25% tariff on foreign auto parts is set to go into effect by early May.

These tariffs will come on top of any country-specific tariffs — for example a 10% tariff on all imports from South Korea would mean cars, aluminum and steel from there would be subject to 35% total tariff rates.

On top of that, Trump may decide to tack on even more sector-wide tariffs Wednesday.

The president has touted these tariffs as a way to help the US government rely less on income taxes as a main form of revenue. He’s even gone as far to say that tariff revenue could replace income taxes entirely.

Recession fears growing

An “everything, everywhere, all at once” tariff approach could not only significantly raise prices consumers pay and cause financial markets to plummet, but also tip the US economy toward a recession.

Economists have expressed concerns about the economic impacts of the tariffs. Goldman Sachs analysts in a note last week said economic growth driven by Trump’s fiscal policies would not be able to make up for the damage done by his massive tariff plan.

However, Trump and his advisers have repeatedly rejected the notion that Trump’s plan could backfire in any way. Leavitt said on Tuesday that Trump’s plans for tax cuts and deregulation will help lower inflation, perhaps counteracting the effect of tariffs.

“It is going to work,” Leavitt said.

CNN’s Alayna Treene, David Goldman and Kevin Liptak contributed reporting.