Donald Trump is expected to impose yet more hiked tariffs on imports coming into the US.
President Trump has already rubbed his neighboring countries the wrong way having threatened hiked tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China — some of which have since come into effect.
The world watched on nervously as Trump proposed the controversial plans, and now he’s believed to be bringing in hiked tariffs on almost all global imports.
According to sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, Trump advisors are considering plans to impose 20 percent tariffs on nearly all the countries the US trades with ahead of an expecting announcement on Wednesday (April 2), which Trump himself has hailed as ‘Liberation Day’.
But it seems as if not all of those close to Trump are onboard with this.
“No one knows what the f**k is going on,” a White House ally told Politico.
“What are they going to tariff? Who are they gonna tariff and at what rates? Like, the very basic questions haven’t been answered yet.”
While Trump is yet to make any announcements, the US stock market has already been affected.
As per Fortune, reporting yesterday (March 30), Dow Jone Industrial Average (DOW) dropped 0.41 percent and the S&P 500 fell 0.77 percent. Meanwhile, Nasdaq futures sank 1.4 percent.
It’s not just the US stock market that is likely to be affected, but the global market too.
With this in mind, Ireland’s deputy premier is calling calling for a ‘calm’ and ‘measured’ response as the country braces itself for Trump’s tariff announcement.
Tanaiste Simon Harris is due to hold calls with Dutch trade minister Reinette Klever and Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen this morning.
Harris — who is Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs, trade and defence — will also host Croatian foreign minister Gordan Grlic-Radman in Dublin on this afternoon.
He is expected to emphasise the importance of the European Union working closely together in a ‘calm, strategic and measured fashion’ while continuing to engage ‘positively’ with the US.
“How Ireland and the EU respond to the coming days and weeks won’t just impact the months and years ahead but our economic model and wellbeing for the next generation,” the Tanaiste is to say, as per PA.
Other EU countries are also exposed to Trump’s tariff threats; Germany and Slovakia are among those most impacted by a 25 percent tariff on cars taking effect in April.
US President Donald Trump has escalated the trade war once again, introducing another 25 percent tariff on certain vehicles.
Yesterday (March 26), the 47th President of the US revealed another tariff which will go into effect on April 2, declaring it as ‘the beginning of Liberation Day in America’.
Trump revealed a 25 percent tariff on imports of ‘automobiles and certain automobile parts’.
A White House fact sheet states the proclamation as ‘addressing a critical threat to US national security’ with Trump ‘taking action to protect America’s automobile industry, which is vital to national security and has been undermined by excessive imports threatening America’s domestic industrial base and supply chains’.
The White House details: “The 25 percent tariff will be applied to imported passenger vehicles (sedans, SUVs, crossovers, minivans, cargo vans) and light trucks, as well as key automobile parts (engines, transmissions, powertrain parts, and electrical components), with processes to expand tariffs on additional parts if necessary.
“Importers of automobiles under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be given the opportunity to certify their U.S. content and systems will be implemented such that the 25 percent tariff will only apply to the value of their non-US content.”
“But if you build your car in the US, there is no tariff,” Trump added.
While the president has yo-yoed on his implementing of other tariffs, Trump deciding to pause tariffs for a month that were subject to a pre-existing trade agreement, he’s said the tariffs on imported vehicles will be ‘100 percent permanent’.
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said: “The foreign trade cheaters have turned America into a lower-wage assembly operation for foreign parts that threatens our national security because it’s eroded our defense and manufacturing industrial base.
“Half of the roughly 16 million cars, SUVs and light trucks Americans bought in 2024 were imports – that’s 50 percent. Of the remaining eight million units, more than half of these cars were assembled from foreign parts. So what that means is less than 25 percent of the cars sold in America contain US content on average. That stops right now with the Trump auto tariffs.”
Trump’s tariffs are in a bid to ‘strengthen the US economy’, with the president reflecting it’s ‘a very simple system’.
“And the beauty of the 25 – it’s one number […] And that number is going to be used to reduce debt greatly in the United States and to build things and reduce taxes. Basically, I view it as reducing taxes and also reducing debt,” he added.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce said in a statement: “The consequences of today’s escalation in this destructive tariff war will not be contained to Canada, as much as the U.S. administration would like to pretend.
“Throwing away tens of thousands of jobs on both sides of the border will mean giving up North America’s auto leadership role, instead encouraging companies to build and hire anywhere else but here. This tax hike puts plants and workers at risk for generations, if not forever.”