President Trump’s tariff plans shifted again and he is planning to narrow his reciprocal tariffs to nations with the largest trade imbalances with the U.S., such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, and Vietnam. The President also seemed to further soften on reciprocal tariffs explaining, “I may give a lot of countries breaks. It’s reciprocal, but we might be even nicer than that.” He went on to say, “We may take less than what they’re charging, because they’ve charged us so much I don’t think they could take it…But it will be substantial.”
Trump also created new uncertainty about sector tariffs on autos, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors previously planned for April 2nd by telling reporters tariffs on automobiles would be announced “very shortly,” and that he will unveil pharmaceutical tariffs “at some point,” without offering further details.