President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposed sweeping new tariffs on all imported goods from more than 180 countries and territories in his effort to combat trade imbalances and restore U.S. manufacturing.
According to a chart Trump displayed, the U.S. will impose a 34 percent tariff on Chinese imports; 20 percent on goods from the European Union; 25 percent on South Korean products; 24 percent on Japanese imports; and 32 percent on goods from Taiwan.
(White House charts on all tariffs imposed on Wednesday are below.)
The 34 percent reciprocal tariff that China will face is in addition to a 20 percent tariff on the country which is already in effect, the White House said.
"This is Liberation Day," Trump said during a Rose Garden ceremony, holding up a printed chart of countries and their new tariff rates. "For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike."
"President Trump’s biggest tariff blitz yet sends a clear message to U.S. and foreign companies alike: The era of globalization is over," the Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump wants goods sold to American consumers to be made in American factories.
Human Events editor Jack Posobiec noted: "America will not be owned by China. … Our people will not become screen-glued porn zombies strung out on SSRIs and Ozempic and flooded by migrants. We will regain our national pride."
The new tariffs include a baseline duty of 10% on foreign imports and larger so-called reciprocal tariffs.
“Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already,” Trump said in a Rose Garden ceremony Wednesday. To any company or country that complains, he said: “If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America.”
The Journal report noted that firms are reconsidering their options for where best to spend their investment dollars.
“The U.S. has been at the center of globalization,” said Andre Sapir, a former EU official who is now economics professor at the Free University of Brussels. “Now the U.S., the center, wants to pull away.”
The U.S.’s two largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada, were spared new tariffs Wednesday, with any goods compliant with their free-trade agreement still subject to no duties. But both countries still face 25% duties that Trump imposed on a large share of their exports not covered by the agreement, as well as the continuing threat that the president could blow up the deal over non-trade issues such as drugs and migration.
The overall U.S. current-account deficit, a broad measure of trade and income from overseas, in 2024 reached $1.1 trillion, underscoring to Trump and his allies the need to revamp global trade.
Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social:
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy. They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels. The Senate Bill is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four, in that it is not going anywhere because the House will never approve it and I, as your President, will never sign it. Why are they allowing Fentanyl to pour into our Country unchecked, and without penalty. What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS? Who can want this to happen to our beautiful families, and why? To the people of the Great States of Kentucky, Alaska, and Maine, please contact these Senators and get them to FINALLY adhere to Republican Values and Ideals. They have been extremely difficult to deal with and, unbelievably disloyal to hardworking Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Party itself. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!The Journal noted: "With his return to the White House, Trump has taken his trade war to adversaries and allies alike, whom he accuses of taking advantage of the global trading system the U.S. nurtured after World War II by pushing exports and restricting imports. Some analysts say such policies do indeed drive U.S. trade deficits, though most mainstream economists cite the U.S.’s persistent budget deficits and low savings rate as the principal drivers of the yawning trade gap.
"There are signs Trump’s strategy is having an effect. Around half of German engineering businesses want to boost U.S. investment, both as a result of the tariffs and the size of the market, according to a November survey by the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, or VDMA, a lobby group. Most members 'look to the U.S. as a growth opportunity,' said Andrew Adair, a VDMA official."
In a Wednesday analysis for Human Events, Megan Barth noted: "President Trump is strategically dismantling the Uniparty's 'America Last' economic and military expansion of communist China. However, tariffs and trade barriers are only part of Trump's plan. Another part will stop federal bureaucrats from undermining American companies in favor of China's slave labor."
Trump, Barth added, "is not stopping at tariffs. He is eyeing a chokehold on American dollars flowing into China's tech empire. His administration is formulating restrictions to block U.S. investments in their semiconductors and AI sectors, which the CCP weaponizes through its Military-Civil Fusion strategy."
China's "civilian" tech firms are legally bound to hand over data and intelligence to the military.
"In response, Trump is squeezing out American cash from bankrolling our rivals," Barth wrote. "It's a bold flex that previous presidents have dared to try. President Trump has closed a sneaky loophole called the 'de minimis dodge,' which let Chinese goods slip into the U.S. duty-free, screwing American manufacturers and charging American consumers for the favor. As manufacturers begin returning to the United States, Chinese imports will now face the tariffs they deserve. President Trump isn't just responding to a quarter-century of poor policy; he's orchestrating significant victories."
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