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President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs will take immediate effect after they are announced Wednesday, his top spokeswoman said.
“My understanding is that the tariff announcement will come tomorrow. They will be effective immediately, and the president has been teasing this for quite some time,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.
The US president said Monday he had “settled” on a plan for so-called “reciprocal” duties meant to rebalance US trade relationships. Leavitt said that Trump, who has been known to change his mind on major policy announcements, was meeting Tuesday afternoon with his trade team to discuss the details.
Trump on April 2 plans to roll out tariffs on global trading partners during an event planned for 4 p.m. in the White House Rose Garden, the centerpiece of his effort to bring back manufacturing to the US and reshape a world trade system he has long decried as unfair.
Leavitt provided few clues about the size and scope of the levies, but said Trump would be willing to listen to foreign governments and corporate leaders who ask for lower rates. She said many nations had already contacted the administration about the president’s plans.
“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 and showing that American workers have a fair shake,” she said.
Trump told reporters Monday in the Oval Office that he would be “very nice, relatively speaking” in deciding tariff rates for countries around the world, including American allies, that he’s accused of ripping off the US.
“The numbers will be lower than what they’ve been charging us, and in some cases may be substantially lower,” the president said.
The spokeswoman also downplayed market volatility ahead of the announcement. Investor fears that tariffs could drive up consumer prices have driven a weeks-long US stock selloff.
“Like they were in his first term, Wall Street will be just fine,” Leavitt said.
Asked about the notion that White House advisers could misjudge the effect of the tariffs and ultimately hurt the US economy, Leavitt dismissed the possibility.
