Trump to impose universal tariff, higher rates for some nations
China, European Union hit with tariffs of 34%, 20%
President Donald Trump is imposing tariffs on US trading partners worldwide, his biggest assault yet on a global economic system he has long bemoaned as unfair.
Trump will apply a minimum 10% tariff on all exporters to the US, according to the Wall Street Journal. The president, displaying a chart, indicated Wednesday that dozens of countries with the largest trade imbalances will face even higher rates. China will face a 34% rate, while the European Union will have a 20% levy and Vietnam is seeing a 46% tariff.
“For years, hard-working American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense. But now it’s our turn to prosper,” Trump said during an event in the White House Rose Garden.
The higher “reciprocal” rates targeting nations the Trump administration labels the worst offenders are based on a government tally of the levies and non-tariff barriers those countries impose on US goods. Under Trump’s plan, those countries facing higher, customized rates will be hit with a levy equal to one-half of that calculated amount.
Trump declared a national emergency tied to the US trade deficit, which stood at more than $918 billion for goods and services in 2024, allowing him to use unilateral authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose the most sweeping set of tariffs in generations. The administration is aiming revive American manufacturing with its protectionist shift and collect hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from the new levies to fill government coffers.
The president’s move is a historic gamble that is expected to raise the cost of trillions of dollars in goods shipped annually to the US from other countries. It also could ignite a worldwide trade war, marked by tit-for-tat strikes that destabilize supply chains, stoke inflation, embolden America’s economic rivals and encourage foreign powers to form new alliances that exclude the US.
That dynamic presents a political problem for Trump: economic hurt from the tariffs could come quickly, while any gain in the form of a restructured US economy could take years or longer to materialize.
