Countries are holding their breath to see how things develop on ‘Liberation Day’. April 2nd is set to be a monumental day for President Donald Trump’s second administration as the White House unveils its economic agenda to ‘make America great Again’.
Donald Trump returned to the office of presidency after beating then Vice President Kamala Harris in November last year, and since then he has repeatedly insisted that he and his administration have been working on massively shifting America economically.
After just a few months back in the White House, he has already ruffled some feathers with his allies and neighbors Mexico and Canada by hitting both nations with tariffs on goods that come into the country.
But this could pale in comparison for his global economic plans that are set to come into affect today, affectionally referred to as ‘Liberation Day’.
What is Liberation Day?
It is somewhat self-explanatory, in that it is the day that America will be ‘liberated’ from an unfair playing field when it comes to international trade.
Trump’s administration has insisted that, on the international stage, the playing field is tilted against US companies.
One of the prevailing reasons is due to other countries usually taxing American exports at a higher rate than America taxes theirs.
So to counter this, Trump will be announcing new tariffs on countries that he believes are leaving the US short-handed in trades.
What does this mean for the US?
The details of the plans are set to be announced today in a press conference, but right now we are short on details.
Speaking on March 30 on Air Force One, Trump told reporters ‘all countries’ will be affected.
He said: “Who told you 10-15 countries? You didn’t hear it from me.
“You’d start with all countries, let’s see what happens.”
There are fears that, at least in the short term, announcing new tariffs pushes the increased costs on the consumer, meaning American citizens see the cost of multiple goods, across industries, go up in price.
What are reciprocal tariffs?
Donald Trump’s new tariffs aren’t expected to just be percentages picked at random but rather reciprocal.
What this means is that the US will raise tariffs on foreign goods to match what countries already impose on U.S. products.
Speaking in February, the President said: “If they charge us, we charge them.
“If they’re at 25, we’re at 25. If they’re at 10, we’re at 10. And if they’re much higher than 25, that’s what we are too.’’
However, it is not clear whether the US is going to look at the thousands of items in the tariff code, country by country, or whether it will look more broadly at each country’s average tariff and how it compares to America.
Whether this will mark the new golden economic age for America or simply cause international condemnation, chaos and strife is yet to be seen.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt seems confident that Trump’s plans will be a success as she answered questions by reporters.
She said: “It’s going to work… The president has a brilliant team who have been studying these issues for decades and we are focused on restoring the global age of America.”
