WH: Sectoral Tariffs Not Planned This Week; Trump: Some Countries Will Be Spared
President Donald Trump, talking to reporters in the Oval Office, declined to say whether tariffs would be tailored to individual countries, or there would be a universal rate on all imports, saying that he'll let them know either Tuesday night, or probably April 2.
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Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would make his announcement in the Rose Garden on April 2.
"The numbers will be lower than what they've been charging us," Trump said March 31. "And in some cases, substantially lower."
Another reporter asked if any countries would be spared from the tariff hike. "Well, it depends. I said it's reciprocal. Not everybody has made a fortune," he replied. "The ones that haven't, we're going to be very nice."
Trump predicted that after the reciprocal tariffs are imposed on trading partners, those countries will lower their tariffs.
"If you look at the European Union on cars, the European Union already dropped its tariff on cars down to 2.5%," he said. In fact, the EU has not announced such a change, but there has been talk that it would. Now that the U.S. is levying a tariff 10 times that high on imported cars, engines, and other parts, matching the U.S. rate would require Europe to hike its tariff, not lower it.
"India's going to be dropping its tariffs very substantially," Trump predicted.
Another reporter asked if Trump would link a tariff reduction to China signing off on a sale of TikTok. "I'm a very flexible person, I could use that for that. Maybe, I'll take a couple of points off if I get approvals ...."
While Trump has said recently that tariffs on lumber would be announced on April 2, Leavitt said sectoral tariffs will wait for another announcement. "The goal of Wednesday is country-based tariffs, but certainly sectoral tariffs, the president has said he's committed to implementing them, and I'll leave it to him on when he makes that decision and that announcement," she said.
Leavitt pointed to 100% tariffs in India on agricultural products, a 700% Japanese tariff on rice, a 50% EU tariff on dairy, and an almost 300% tariff from Canada on American butter and cheese. "This makes it virtually impossible for American products to be imported into these markets, and it has put a lot of Americans out of business and out of work over the past several decades. So it's time for reciprocity, and it's time for a president to take historic change to do what's right for the American people," Leavitt said.
In fact, those Canadian rates are TRQs, and across all dairy categories, the U.S. exported $1 billion to Canada last year, up from before the USMCA came into effect during the first Trump term.
On March 30, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said that the reciprocal tariffs would result in $600 billion in revenue annually, and that revenue would make it possible for Congress to provide income tax cuts "for the middle class, for the blue collar, for the deplorables."
He said that foreign producers would lower their prices in response to tariffs. "Foreigners are going to eat most of it. They have to -- we're the biggest market in the world, they have to be here."
He also said the tariffs would restore the domestic manufacturing base.
Congress was dividing along party lines over Trump's plans.
Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks tweeted, "New jobs for AMERICANS. Tariffs that lift up our manufacturers and workers. Historic investments in U.S. industries. Great for America. Great for Hoosiers. The Trump approach is working."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D.N.Y., said in a floor speech, "This week, Donald Trump is preparing to take a sledgehammer to the American economy by preparing a tsunami of tariffs on all sorts of goods Americans purchase every day. "
He added, "And Donald Trump has the gall to call his trade war liberation day. That makes as much sense as calling a layoff notice a promotion letter."
He said Republicans should be pushing publicly for the president to change course, but said their response has been "almost nonexistent."
"The worst part is, nobody knows what these tariffs will look like, perhaps not even Donald Trump. On a slow day, he changes his mind about them only once a day. He seems to change his mind about them almost every hour."