Over the weekend, reports surfaced that President Donald Trump is considering narrowing the range of tariffs he wants to impose on foreign countries starting April 2, targeting 15% of the countries with chronic trade imbalances with the United States.
“April 2nd is Liberation Day in America!!!” Trump exclaimed on Truth Social. “For DECADES we have been ripped off and abused by every nation in the World, both friend and foe. Now it is finally time for the Good Ol’ USA to get some of that MONEY, and RESPECT, BACK. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!”
On Monday, U.S. stocks soared as news of the narrower range of tariffs broke; the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 600 points, the S&P 500 climbed 1.76%, and Nasdaq increased 2.27%, Market Watch noted.
“One of the things we see from markets is they’re expecting … these really large tariffs on every single country,” Kevin Hassett, Trump’s National Economic Council director, explained. “I think markets need to change their expectations, because it’s not everybody that cheats us on trade, it’s just a few countries and those countries are going to be seeing some tariffs.”
An administration official said the specific sectors the Trump administration will target will likely not be announced on April 2, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Targeted nations are expected to be close to those laid out by the U.S. trade representative in a Federal Register notice last month, which directed commenters to focus on nations with trade imbalances with the U.S., like the G-20 nations and Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Vietnam and more, said a person with knowledge of the plans,” the Journal added.
The narrowing of tariffs may bolster consumer confidence that has been languishing recently. On Tuesday morning, the Conference Board announced its Consumer Confidence Index dropped by 7.2 points in March to 92.9.
“That’s the fourth consecutive monthly decline, which brings the Index below the relatively narrow range that prevailed since 2022. The #PresentSituation Index fell 3.6 pts to 134.5,” the Conference Board stated. “The #ExpectationsIndex — based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions — fell 9.6 pts to 65.2. That’s well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a #recession ahead, and #expectations for the future now stand at a 12-year low.”
