US President Donald Trump has announced that the tariffs he plans to impose in the coming days will target “all countries,” not just those with the largest trade imbalances with the United States. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump stated that his long-awaited tariff announcement on April 2 would “start” with all countries.
Trump explained that the tariffs would address what his administration considers unfair trade practices. When asked about the specifics of which nations would be affected, Trump said, “You’d start with all countries, so let’s see what happens,” adding that he had not heard any rumors about limiting the measures to specific countries. “We’ve been talking about all countries, not a cutoff,” he said.
Initially, the tariffs were expected to focus on the 15 percent of trade partners with persistent trade imbalances, a group Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent referred to as the “Dirty 15.” However, Trump’s plan expands the target, insisting that the new tariffs will be more “generous” than those imposed on the United States in the past. “The tariffs will be far more generous than those countries were to us,” Trump said. “They ripped us off like no country has ever been ripped off in history, and we’re going to be much nicer than they were to us. But it’s substantial money for the country nevertheless.”
Trump has already imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, as well as additional levies on China. New tariffs on imported autos are set to take effect on April 3, with Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro estimating that the auto tariffs could generate $100 billion a year.
Navarro added that other tariffs could raise an additional $600 billion annually, or about $6 trillion over a 10-year period.
These broad tariffs are raising concerns of a potential global trade war, with other countries already pledging retaliation. Economists have warned that such sweeping measures could lead to inflation and an economic downturn. However, Trump has defended the tariffs, arguing that they will help raise government revenue and revitalize US industry.