President Trump declared a national emergency on Wednesday in order to unveil a comprehensive set of tariffs he’s dubbed “Liberation Day” duties, affecting all imports. The plan features a new standard 10% tariff and significantly steeper rates targeting specific nations—including traditional allies like the European Union, Japan, and Israel.
Calling it a “Declaration of Economic Independence,” Trump waited until the closing bell on Wall Street before revealing the initiative in full.
“This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It’s our Declaration of Economic Independence,” the president, 78, proclaimed in the White House 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.”
“Ultimately more production at home will mean stronger competition and lower prices for consumers. This will be indeed be the golden age of America.”
The blanket 10% import tax is about three times the average rate prior to Trump returning to the presidency and is scheduled to go into effect on Saturday.
Tariffs that vary by country will kick in on April 9, with European Union goods facing a 20% rate, Japan 24%, and Israel 17%.
In his address, Trump sharply criticized foreign trade practices, pointing to Australia’s barriers to American beef, European Union prohibitions on U.S. poultry, Japan’s rice import levies, and what he called unfair vehicle sales policies in South Korea.
“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.
“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 continued, “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 declared.
“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.”
“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. 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 was joined at the event by a range of tradespeople, including union members from the United Auto Workers, as well as members of his cabinet. Trump emphasized that this move should not have come as a shock, saying, “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,” Trump added.
“It’s such an honor to be finally able to do this.”
The announcement rattled the markets after hours, with S&P 500 futures falling by 1.7%, Nasdaq 100 futures dropping 2.5%, and Dow Jones futures slipping 0.7% as Trump wrapped up his remarks.
Opponents of the plan warn that these tariffs will lead to increased costs for American families, potentially pushing inflation even higher after the 22% price surge seen during President Biden’s tenure.
Trump, however, pointed to his earlier term in office, where he implemented more targeted trade levies without triggering runaway inflation, as proof that his new policies won’t necessarily lead to soaring prices.
During his speech, Trump also repeated his appeal for congressional Republicans to back his tax overhaul plan—which would eliminate federal taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security benefits, while allowing deductions for interest on car loans used to purchase American vehicles.
According to White House officials, the 10% across-the-board tariff was designed to serve as a safeguard against countries trying to skirt harsher country-specific penalties.
They cited China as a case in point, noting the country’s 42.1% average tariff rate and accusing it of rerouting goods through nations like Cambodia and Vietnam to bypass U.S. restrictions.
Despite Israel being a close ally and a top recipient of U.S. military aid, the country was not spared from the list of steep tariffs due to trade imbalances.
“Israel steals a lot of intellectual property from, for example, the pharmaceutical manufacturers in this country,” an administration official stated ahead of the official announcement.
A report published by the Tax Foundation last year estimated that a uniform 10% tariff would boost federal income by around $200 billion over 10 years—equal to about 10% of the current budget shortfall.
But that same report included a warning: “[i]f foreign countries retaliate, even partially, to the US-imposed tariffs, revenue will fall further as the economy shrinks even more.”
Administration officials explained that the country-specific tariffs were determined by halving each nation’s trade imbalance with the United States—an act of generosity, they said, on the president’s part.
“The numbers [for tariffs by country] have been calculated by the Council of Economic Advisers. … based on the concept that the trade deficit that we have with any given country is the sum of all trade practices, the sum of all cheating,” a White House official told reporters. “We’re not charging them the full amount —each of the reciprocal tariffs will be half of the actual calculation.”
In conjunction with the sweeping plan, the White House also introduced new 25% tariffs on a wide range of products from Canada and Mexico, as well as a 25% duty on all imported vehicles and auto parts set to begin at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.
Officials noted this policy will affect three out of every four vehicles sold in the U.S., creating significant pressure on car manufacturers to shift operations back to American soil.
Just last month, Trump approved an extra 25% tariff on Chinese imports in response to fentanyl trafficking. In February, he slapped the same rate on foreign steel and aluminum—this time eliminating previous carve-outs for key trading partners like Brazil and South Korea.
Trump has hinted that more duties are coming, potentially targeting items like microchips, timber, copper, pharmaceutical goods, and other major imports.

{Matzav.com}

The post Trump Slaps At Least 10% Tariffs On All Imports In ‘Declaration Of Economic Independence’: ‘Half of What They Could Be’ first appeared on Matzav.com.