Trump talks more tariffs as roll-out nears

President has said details will come Wednesday [04/02/2025]

by: John Bacon
and Joey Garrison
USA Today

..... President Donald Trump ramped up his rhetoric Monday [03/31/2025] as the day for his promised tariff roll-out drew near, pledging to slap the duties on every country, threatening Russia and Iran with "secondary" tariffs and saying tariffs will significantly benefit the U.S. auto industry.
..... Trump has repeatedly said he will announce details Wednesday [04/02/2025] for is plan to curtail the flow of foreign goods into the U.S., thus "liberating: American-made products. Economists warn that tariffs will drive up prices for Americans, but Trump is focusing on the hundreds of billions of dollars in new investment projects U.S. companies are planning to avoid the import taxes.
..... He pressed his case for global tariffs Monday [03/31/2025] by posting a list on social media of companies considering major U.S. expansion plans.
..... Among them was Cincinnati-based GE Aerospace, which announced in March [2025] it plans to invest nearly $1 billion in its U.S. factories and supply chain and said it will hire around 5,000 U.S. workers this year. [2025] Global firms on the list included Japanese tech investment firm SoftBank Group, which has announced plans to invest at least $500 billion to build factories in the United States.
..... The president said his tariffs won't just target nations that contribute most to the U.S. trade deficit. "We'll start with all of them," he told reporters Sunday [03/30/2025] night aboard Air Force One.
..... Trump's remarks provided clarifications on the scope of the tariffs after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said the 15% of nations with persistent trade imbalances with the U.S. would be most impacted by the tariffs. Bessent has called these the "Dirty 15" countries.
.... Amid growing economic anxieties at home and abroad, Trump last week [03/27/2025] softened his tone on the tariffs, saying it will be "more lenient; than some nations are expecting. Yet he made clear Sunday [03/30/2025] the tariff rates will be significant.
..... "It will be substantial," Trump said.
..... White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to say how many countries would face tariffs in Trump's announcement Wednesday [04/02/2025] but said they would offset unfair treatment the U.S. has faced for decades.
..... She cited a 700% tariff in Japan on U.S. rice, a 100% tariff in India on U.S. agricultural products and a nearly 400% tariff in Canada on U.S. butter and cheese. India has offered to reduce its tariffs to appease Trump.
..... "It has put a lot of Americans out of business and out of work over the past several decades," Leavitts said. "It's time for reciprocity."
..... She said Trump was not concerned with the stock market selloff ahead of the tariff announcement. "He's doing what's best for Main Street," Leavitt said. "Wall Street will,work out just fine in this administration, just like they did in the first one."
..... In addition, 25% tariffs on all vehicles not made in the U.S. are scheduled to go into effect Thursday. [04/03/2025]
..... Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, on Monday [03/31/2025] urged Trump to reconsider.
..... "Think about it, Mr President and dear American friends, before you decide to impose tariffs against your closest allies,: Tusk said in a video posted on X. "Cooperation is always better than confrontation."
..... Tusk touted Poland;s partnership with the U.S., saying he just finished signing the latest agreement between the two countries regarding defense cooperation.
..... "You have only friends here, and I can say the same thing about Europe as a whole," Tusk said.
..... China, Japan and South Korea agreed to jointly respond to U.S. tariffs, a soc la media account affiliated with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Monday. [03/31/2025] all three countries are major U.S. trading partners.
..... Trade ministers for the three countries discussed economics Sunday [03/30/2025] for the first time in five years to prepare for Trump's tariffs. Japan and South Korea are seeking to import semiconductors raw materials from china, and China is also interested in purchasing chip products form Japan and South Korea, according to the post on Weibo by Yuyuan Tantian, who is affiliated with CCTV.
..... Trump also threatened additional tariffs against two international adversaries.
..... He told NBC News Sunday [03/30/2025] that if he and Russian President Vladimir Putin are unable to make a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine "and if I think it was Russia;s fault ... I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia."
..... Trump said the additional secondary tariffs of 25% to 50% on all Russian oil could come within a few weeks.
..... The result would be that "if you buy oil from Russia, you can;t do business in the United States," Trump said.
..... However, trump said his "anger dissipates quickly ... if (Putin) does the right things."
..... also on Sunday, [03/03/2025] trump threated Iran with secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program.
..... "If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing," Trump said in an interview with NBC. "But there's a chance that if they don't make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago."
..... Tehran dismissed Trump's warning. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday [03/30/2025] rule out direct negotiations with the Trump administration but indicated that indirect talks were possible.
..... Despite prevailing negativity among economists, tariffs do have some supporters. Shawn fain, president of the united Auto Workers was bullish on Trump's tariffs in an intervene Sunday [03/30/2025] on CBS News' "face the Nation."
..... Fain says 90,000 U.S. automotive jobs and 65 factories have vanished amid "unfair trade laws" dating back more than 30 years. U.S. plants have excess capacity and "could bring work back in very short order."
..... "Tariffs aren't the total solution," Fain said. "tariffs are a tool in the toolbox to get these companies to do the right thing, and then intend behind it is to bring jobs back here."
.... He continued, "American working-class people have been left behind for decades, and they're sick of it."

..... Contributing: Reuters; Jorge L. Ortiz and Bart Jansen, USA Today

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