President Donald Trump proclaimed substantial new tariffs during his “Liberation Day” speech on April 2, calling these tariffs a “declaration of economic independence.”
Trump imposed tariffs on scores of countries, setting an initial tariff of 10% on all imports with a start date of April 5.
“We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us,” Trump said, adding, “So, the tariffs will not be fully reciprocal.”
He recognized that other tariffs could be charged if foreign companies made their products in the United States to avoid tariffs. He said, “If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product here in America.”
Trump said this is vital for bringing back American industry and would help to change a decades-long pattern of economic losses created by foreign competition. “April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn,” the president said at the event named Make America Wealthy Again.
He added, “But if you build the car in America, if you buy a car, if it’s built in America, then you get an interest rate deduction, tax deduction,” hinting that Trump wants more production to take place domestically.
Trump went on to explain how Americans would be incentivized to manufacture domestically, including mechanisms like reciprocal tariffs that punish foreign manufacturing, zero tariffs for goods produced in the U.S., targeted deductions, and billions of dollars in tax facilities and government subsidies for places that built factories in America.
ETFs attached to major U.S. stock indexes moved down in after-hours trading following the announcement the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) sank 2.2%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust, which tracks the Nasdaq-100, fell 3%.
At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $84,957.70, down by 0.44%, as per Kraken’s price feed.
