Donald "Forrest" Trump's Tariff Threats Apply To All Countries

President Donald Trump said on March 31 the tariffs he plans to impose in the coming days would include “all countries”, not just those with the largest trade imbalances with the United States. 

Trump has promised a “Liberation Day” on April 02, when he is set to unveil reciprocal levies to aggressively address trade practices that his government deem unfair. 

But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had highlighted that the upcoming tariff salvo is to target the 15 percent of partners – he labeled them the “Dirty 15” – that have persistent trade imbalances with the United States.

While the official list remains unpublished, the targeted nations are likely to align with those mentioned in last month's Federal Register notice from the US trade representative, the Wall Street Journal suggested. 

The largest goods trade deficits with the United States in the previous year, ranked from highest to lowest, were China, EU, Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, Thailand, Switzerland, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and South Africa. 

Whatever the case may be, Trump is insisting that “the tariffs will be far more generous than those countries were to us, meaning they will be kinder than those countries were to the United States of America over the decades”. 

He defends the levies as a way to raise government revenue and revitalize US industry. "We’re going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking jobs, taking our wealth, taking so much out of our country", he had declared.  

And, on March 26, he announced 25% tariffs on all cars shipped to the United States, a significant escalation in a global trade war. According to USA Today, it would go into effect on Wednesday, April 02 and begin to be collected on Thursday, April 03. 

As Trump’s top trade aide Peter Navarro said the tax on auto imports could raise $100 billion a year. 

“And in addition, the other tariffs are going to raise about $600 billion a year, about $6 trillion over a 10-year period”, Navarro told Fox News on Sunday.

On Monday, Asian shares followed US futures in falling because of the riskiness over what the upcoming tariffs could be. Stock markets in Japan and South Korea, whose carmakers are likely to be disproportionately affected by the US measures, were hit especially hard.

Sad to say, Trump is only deluding himself. The tariffs will boomerang back at him, for sure. You wait and see!