Trump slaps at least 10% tariffs on almost all imports in ‘Declaration of Economic Independence’: ‘Half of what they are charging us’

WASHINGTON — President Trump declared a national emergency Wednesday to impose his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs on almost all imports — with a new 10% baseline rate and harsher “reciprocal” levies on dozens of countries, including key allies such as European Union members, Japan and Israel.

Trump called the move a “Declaration of Economic Independence” and waited until stock trading ended for the day at 4 p.m. ET to announce the details.

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“This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It’s our Declaration of Economic Independence,” the president, 78, said in the Rose Garden.

“Factories will come roaring back into our country — and you see it happening already. We will supercharge our domestic industrial base. We will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers.”

The new 10% baseline is roughly triple the average US tariff rate before Trump reclaimed power in January and will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

Specific reciprocal duties will take effect after midnight on April 9 — including a 20% tariff on the 27-nation European Union, 24% levies on Japan and 17% tariffs on Israel — with the rates described as roughly half of the tariff and non-tariff barriers on US goods by the countries, with which the US has trade deficits.

“We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us,” Trump said of the reciprocal tariffs.

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“Ultimately more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers. This will indeed be the golden age of America.”

Trump railed against both foreign tariffs and non-tariff barriers, citing Australian restrictions on US beef, EU bans on poultry and Japanese fees on rice. The US has a trade surplus with Australia, which was hit with the lower 10% baseline.

“From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation and the United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been,” the president said.

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“In 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying the money necessary to run our government. Then in 1929, it all came to a very abrupt end with a Great Depression, and it would have never happened if they had stayed with the tariff policy.”

The president added: “If imposing tariffs and protective barriers made nations poor, then every country on Earth would be racing to eliminate these policies.”

“To all of the foreign presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, ambassadors and everyone else who will soon be calling to ask for exemptions from these tariffs, I say, ‘Terminate your own tariffs, drop your barriers,'” Trump went on.

“April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again.”

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Countries hit with tariff rates higher than the 10% baseline include Cambodia (49%), India (26%), Iraq (39%), South Africa (30%), South Korea (25%), Sri Lanka (44%), Switzerland (31%), Taiwan (32%), Thailand (36%) and Vietnam (46%).

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said.

“American steel workers, auto workers, farmers and skilled craftsmen — we have a lot of them here with us today — they really suffered gravely.”

The president hosted various tradesmen, including United Auto Workers members, in the audience alongside members of his cabinet.

Trump said the sweeping tariffs should come as no surprise because “I’ve been talking about it for 40 years.”

“If you look at my old speeches, where I was young and very handsome … I’d be on a television show, I’d be talking about how we were being ripped off by these countries. I mean, nothing changes very much,” he said.

“It’s such an honor to be finally able to do this.”

The announcement roiled after-hours trading, with S&P 500 futures down 1.7%, Nasdaq 100 futures off 2.5%, and futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.7% as Trump concluded his announcement.

Critics argue the new rates will drive up American consumer costs, fueling inflation after prices already soared 22% during Joe Biden’s four years in office.

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“This is the largest tax increase in American history, nothing short of that,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul charged in pre-recorded remarks on MSNBC Wednesday night, calling the move “cataclysmic.”

“I have to ask why. Who are we liberating? We’re not liberating Wall Street. We’re not liberating the senior couple who’s watching their portfolio, their nest egg becomes scrambled. They’ve been saving their whole lives. Who are we helping here? We’re hurting real people in our state and across this country.”

Trump pointed to low inflation during his first term, when he imposed more targeted tariffs on foreign products, as evidence that costs may not surge as he adopts protectionist trade policies.

He also used his address to reiterate his call for congressional Republicans to approve his plans to eliminate federal taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits, and to allow tax writeoffs for domestic car loan interest payments.

The baseline 10% tariff was adopted to prevent circumvention of harsher rates among the “worst offenders,” White House officials said.

The administration cited, as an example, China allegedly using facilities in Cambodia and Vietnam to repackage products for export to America.

Israel, with which the US had a $7.4 billion trade deficit last year, was slapped with the steep tariff despite being a major recipient of American military aid.

“Israel steals a lot of intellectual property from, for example, the pharmaceutical manufacturers in this country,” an administration official said ahead of Trump’s announcement.

An analysis by the Tax Foundation last year found that a blanket 10% tariff would increase federal revenues by an average of about $200 billion over the next decade — roughly one-tenth of the current federal deficit.

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That analysis cautioned that “[i]f foreign countries retaliate, even partially, to the US-imposed tariffs, revenue will fall further as the economy shrinks even more.”

The specific “reciprocal” tariff rate was roughly half of the current trade imbalance because “the president is lenient and he wants to be kind to the world,” a Trump aide told reporters.

“The numbers [for tariffs by country] have been calculated by the Council of Economic Advisers … The model they use is based on the concept that the trade deficit that we have with any given country is the sum of all unfair trade practices, the sum of all cheating,” a White House official said, calling it “the most fair thing in the world.”

The tariffs announcement coincided with the Wednesday adoption of 25% tariffs on “non-USMCA compliant” Canadian and Mexican goods imposed in response to illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling, as well as a 25% tariff on all foreign-made cars and auto parts to take effect at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

Administration officials say that tariff will impact 75% of all cars sold in the US, creating a heavy incentive for automakers to set up onshore production.

Last month, Trump slapped an additional 20% tariff on China over fentanyl smuggling, and in February he imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum without exceptions for major importers like Brazil and South Korea that previously were in effect.

About 43% of US imports in terms of cost come from Canada, China and Mexico, with each nation importing between 13% and 16% of the total.

The interplay between Wednesday’s “reciprocal” rate for China — 34% — and existing tariffs on Beijing, which exceed that level, is unclear.

Germany and Japan each are responsible for about 5% of US imports, followed by Vietnam and South Korea at about 4% apiece — trailed closely by Ireland, India, Italy and France.

Trump has also teased plans for tariffs on computer chips, copper, lumber and pharmaceuticals, which were specifically exempted from Wednesday’s individualized reciprocal tariffs.