WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump ignited a potentially ruinous trade war Wednesday as he slapped sweeping 10% tariffs on imports from around the world and harsh additional levies on key trading partners — including a 37% levy on goods from Thailand.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden against a backdrop of US flags, Trump unveiled particularly stinging tariffs on China and the European Union on what he called “Liberation Day.”
Trump’s tariffs triggered immediate anger, with US ally Australia blasting them as “unwarranted” and Italy calling them “wrong,” while other countries have already vowed retaliation.
“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said.
Wall Street was closed when Trump made his announcement but the S&P index was down 1.5% in after-hours trading. The dollar fell one percent against euro as he was speaking, but then recovered.
Trump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly,” including 34% on goods from superpower rival China, 20% the European Union and 24% on Japan.
But the 78-year-old Republican — who held up a chart with a list of the biggest levies — said that he was “very kind” and so was only imposing half the amount that the “worst offenders” taxed US exports.
‘Make America wealthy again’
For the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10%, including another key ally, Britain.
An audience of cabinet members, as well as workers in hard hats from industries including steel, oil and gas, whooped and cheered as Trump said the tariffs would “make America wealthy again”.
“This is Liberation Day,” Trump said, adding that it would “forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn.”
Sweeping auto tariffs of 25% that Trump announced last week are also due to take effect at 12.01am (0401 GMT) Thursday.
Canada and Mexico are not affected by the new tariffs as Trump has already imposed levies on the two US neighbors for what he says is their failure to crack down on trafficking of the drug fentanyl.
- Fact Sheet: Official White House announcement
Trump had telegraphed the move for weeks, insisting tariffs will keep the United States from being “ripped off” by other countries and spur a new economic “Golden Age”.
But many experts warn the tariffs risk triggering a recession at home as costs are passed on to US consumers, and a damaging trade war abroad.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned nations not to impose countermeasures, saying on Fox News: “If you retaliate, there will be escalation.”
The world has been on edge ahead of Trump’s announcement, and his tariffs hit countries all over the globe.
Some of the worst hit were in Asia, including 49% for Cambodia, 47% for Vietnam and 44% for military-ruled Myanmar, which was recently hit by a devastating earthquake.
The reciprocal tariffs on Thailand, which will take effect on April 9, will be 37%, according to an annex in the executive order issued by Trump on Wednesday.
He displayed a chart showing a rate of 36% for Thailand, but it emerged later that the rates on the chart for a number of countries were one percentage point lower than in the annex.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said Thailand has a “strong plan” to deal with the new tariffs, which were considerably higher than forecasters had estimated.
The country is ready and willing to negotiate with the US, she added.
“We won’t let it get to where GDP will miss the target,” she said on Thursday after Trump’s announcement.
One country attracting the highest rate of 50% was Lesotho — the southern African nation that Trump recently called a country “nobody has ever heard of”.
‘Totally unwarranted’
The tariffs will also reinforce fears that Trump is backing even further away from US allies towards a new order based on a vision of American supremacy.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday said the tariffs were “totally unwarranted” and would change the perception of the relationship with the United States.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a close Trump ally, said the levies on the EU were “wrong” but pledged to work with Washington for a deal.
Britain escaped relatively lightly after a diplomatic offensive that included Prime Minister Keir Starmer turning up to the White House with an invitation from King Charles III for a state visit.
But it remains committed to sealing a trade deal that could “mitigate” the 10% tariff it now faces, business minister Jonathan Reynolds said.
Trump has had a long love affair with tariffs, insisting in the face of experts that they are a cure-all for America’s trade imbalances and economic ills.
The billionaire insists the levies will bring a “rebirth” of America’s hollowed-out manufacturing capacity, and says companies can avoid tariffs by moving to the United States.
