The Trade War Begins
Posted on: Apr 03, 2025 16:25 IST | Posted by: Nytimes
Newsletter
We explicate the wholesale tariff announcement and the world’s reaction.
Yesterday, President Trump held up a chart at the White House Rose Garden. He laughed that not everyone in the audience could read it because the font was so small. But the content was anything but small. It detailed the tariffs he will impose on China, the European Union, Japan, India and dozens of others. That chart started a trade war against the rest of the world.
The levies will total 10, 20 and even 50 percent, depending on the country. “Many people had been expecting the president to announce high tariffs today, but the numbers that he just revealed are stunning,” my colleague Ana Swanson said.
In Trump’s telling, the tariffs are necessary to counter trade barriers that other countries have placed on America. To some extent, he has a point: Other nations do have higher tariffs than the United States does. But Trump exaggerates how big the gap is, as Ana explained. And these tariffs will not simply hurt other countries; they will also hurt the U.S. Economy. Experts say the levies will result in higher prices and lower economic growth — and potentially even a recession.
Today’s newsletter looks at Trump’s new tariffs and what may come next, with help from reporting by my colleagues.
The tariffs make little distinction between allies and adversaries. The administration claims they are based on other countries’ trade barriers against the United States. In reality, the levies are based on how much more another country exports to America than imports from it, Tony Romm, Ana and Lazaro Gamio wrote. The difference between exports and imports doesn’t necessarily reflect trade barriers; Americans may simply want to buy more stuff from, say, Japan than the Japanese want to buy from the United States.
This chart shows the levies on some of America’s biggest trading partners. (The new fees exclude Canada and Mexico, which already face separate tariffs.)
Country
New tariff
Share of U.S. Imports
European Union
+20%
18.5%
China
13.4%
+34%
Japan
+24%
4.5%
Vietnam
+46%
4.2%
South Korea
+26%
4.0%
Taiwan
+32%
3.6%
India
+27%
2.7%
Switzerland
+32%
1.9%
1.9%
Thailand
+37%
Country
New tariff
Share of U.S. Imports
European Union
+20%
18.5%
China
13.4%
+34%
Japan
+24%
4.5%
Vietnam
+46%
4.2%
South Korea
+26%
4.0%
Taiwan
+32%
3.6%
India
+27%
2.7%
Switzerland
+32%
1.9%
1.9%
Thailand
+37%
Sources: White House; Observatory of Economic Complexity
By The New York Times
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