White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran is defending the formula used to impose reciprocal tariffs -- taking the trade deficit, dividing it by the amount of exports to a country, and dividing the result in two.
President Donald Trump declared that if China doesn't withdraw its 34% retaliatory tariff hike, "above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
A recent rise in tariffs, export controls and other trade actions will lead to rising prices in semiconductor supply chains, said Sree Ramaswamy, former senior adviser to former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Ahead of a long night of amendment votes on budget instructions to renew President Donald Trump's tax cuts, Democratic senators highlighted amendments that will say that new tariffs should expire if they raise prices on groceries, new houses and other goods. Those amendments, even if they gain a majority, do not actually change the laws that allowed the tariffs to be levied.
Correction: The list of products exempt from reciprocal tariffs doesn’t include furniture or cabinets, despite those products’ inclusion in the Section 232 report on lumber (see 2504020072).
President Donald Trump, from his home in South Florida, posted on social media throughout the day about the global and economic reactions to the tariffs. After the strong job growth numbers from March were released, he wrote, "GREAT JOB NUMBERS, FAR BETTER THAN EXPECTED. IT’S ALREADY WORKING. HANG TOUGH, WE CAN’T LOSE!!!"
China retaliated against President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs with duties of 34% on all U.S. goods, along with new export restrictions on U.S. companies and rare earth metals.
Republicans are not exactly turning against the dramatic tariff actions President Donald Trump is taking, but some are expressing hope that the reciprocal tariffs will be temporary cudgels to liberalize trade, and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, acknowledged that the free trade advocates in the Republican Party may not be right about that being where this is heading.
With the White House announcing this week the end of the de minimis exemption for goods made in China starting next month, the U.S. will need to have the customs and trade infrastructure in place to handle significantly higher volumes of formal and informal entries, said Bernie Hart, vice president of customs for logistics provider Flexport.
Drawback will be available on recently announced reciprocal tariffs that take effect April 5 and April 9, CBP confirmed in an emailed CSMS message providing guidance on the tariffs. “Drawback is available with respect to the additional duties imposed pursuant to the Executive Order,” the CSMS message said.