Some US businesses ‘very concerned’ as Trump tariffs set for April 2
Businesses are readying for President Donald Trump’s import tariffs coming in April with mixed reactions from different industries.
President Donald Trump will unveil his global tariffs plan today at a 4 p.m. event in the White House Rose Garden − shortly after the recently volatile U.S. financial markets have closed for the day.
Stocks have been on a rollercoaster ride − a lot of it downhill − in recent weeks since the Trump administration began slapping tariffs on some specific imports and on imports from specific countries. Today’s reveal, billed by the White House as a “Make America Wealthy Again” event, is forecast to reach deeper, possibly almost all imports and many more nations.
The president’s long-awaited tariff announcement will come after Trump faces a possible rebuke from the Senate: Enough Republicans are expected to join Democrats Wednesday in voting to end the emergency declaration enabling tariffs against Canada.
Trump blasted Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in a Truth Social post early Wednesday, accusing them of “suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS?”
The outcome wouldn’t stop Trump from imposing the tax on Canadian goods because the resolution would have to pass the House to be binding, but it would be a significant upbraiding of Trump.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the global tariffs will be followed up with tax breaks Trump promised during his presidential campaign. Tips, overtime and Social Security would not be taxed; purchasing an American car would draw a tax deduction.
And White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that Trump could potentially negotiate lower tariffs with companies or countries if they change policies.
“Certainly the president is always up to take a phone call, always up for a good negotiation, but he is very much focused on fixing the wrongs of the past,” Leavitt said.
A Senate resolution − expected to be voted on Wednesday − to end the emergency declaration enabling tariffs against Canada is likely to have enough Republican votes to pass the chamber, according to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky. Paul is co-sponsoring the resolution with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, who wants to force GOP lawmakers to go on the record on the policy. Trump implemented the emergency declaration in February to put tariffs on Canada for not going far enough to stop fentanyl from crossing into the United States.
Canadian officials have said fentanyl seizures by U.S. agents at the northern border made up less than 0.1% of total U.S. seizures of the drug from 2022 to 2024.
Paul and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have publicly said they will vote for the resolution. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also said she is likely to support it. Paul told reporters Tuesday afternoon that a fourth Republican is likely to vote in favor, though he would not say who.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that Trump’s plans to implement massive tariffs on the United States’ former trading allies “makes a lot of common sense.” The trade disparities that began after World War II are over, Johnson argued, and there is now a much more integrated global economy.
“The president is absolutely right when he says that we have to think about America’s interests first,” Johnson said. He later added: “It may be rocky in the beginning, but I think that this will make sense for Americans and it will help all Americans.”
Trump has referred to April 2 as “Liberation Day” since he assumed the nation’s highest office in January. The president has pledged to enact reciprocal tariffs on major trading partners as well as scores of other nation that contribute to the $1.2 trillion U.S. trade deficit.
Trump’s motive is to use tariffs as a way to force other countries to lower their own tariffs on U.S. goods and services, so as to create a more balanced economic playing field for U.S. exports and to create a strong incentive for companies to manufacture goods such as cars inside the U.S. to avoid paying the tax. The administration has already announced 25% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, on imported automobile and automobile parts and on goods from Mexico and Canada.
Trump said earlier this month that April 2 “is a liberation day for our country because we’re going to be getting back a lot of the wealth that we so foolishly gave up to other countries.”
Tariffs are primarily levied on imports, typically to protect industries in the country levying them. Tariffs make imports more expensive, thus making local goods cheaper by comparison. Tariffs also can provide income that can be used to support local industries, fund public programs or cover government expenditures.
And they can serve as bargaining tools to win concessions from trading partners.
“While tariffs may seem to penalize foreign producers by making their goods or services less competitive, the reality is that U.S. consumers and businesses ultimately bear the cost,” the Wilson Center scholars Diego Marroquín Bitar and Valeria Moy write in a “Tariffs 101” analysis.
E.J. Antoni, a public finance economist and senior fellow at the conservative Committee to Unleash Prosperity, disagrees, saying in his opinion piece for Fox News earlier this month that economic history tariffs are always at least partly paid for by exporters, not just customers.”