President Donald Trump’s long-promised plan to shake up the economy arrives Wednesday as he prepares to unleash his most significant round of tariffs yet. He already has slapped duties on imports that have roiled markets and ignited a global trade war.
Two months into his White House return, Trump has imposed tariffs on goods from neighboring Canada and Mexico as well as China, all steel and aluminum imports, and foreign cars and auto parts. He’s threatened several other countries including traditional allies in the European Union with other steep tariffs ‒ even on European wine.
Yet Trump has circled April 2 as the true culmination of his “American first” trade policy as he seeks to boost domestic manufacturing by making it more expensive for companies to ship products into the U.S.
That’s when Trump is set to announce his reciprocal tariffs, which will apply to countries that are the largest contributors to the $1.2 trillion U.S. trade deficit. It will officially go into effect Thursday.
Here’s what to know ahead of what Trump has called “the big one.”
What are reciprocal tariffs?
Trump has said his administration’s suite of reciprocal tariffs will apply to nations that charge fees on U.S. exports, promising to match those countries’ duties with tariffs of the same rate.
On Feb. 13, Trump signed a memorandum that directed U.S. trade officials to go country by country and put together a slate of tailored counter measures.
Why is Trump pushing reciprocal tariffs?
Trump has said the reciprocal tariffs will offset trade practices of other nations that his administration deems unfair, while encouraging companies to make products in the U.S. to avoiding having to pay the new fees.
In 2024, the U.S. imported $1.2 trillion more in goods than than it exported, a record trade deficit that Trump is aiming to shrink with his action.
Trump has complained the U.S. has allowed other nations to levy tariffs on U.S. exports without any consequences.
What is the ‘Dirty 15?’
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week said the Trump administration beginning April 2 will apply a reciprocal tariff number to each country based on what they charge on U.S. exports.
He said the countries most impacted will be the 15% of nations that contribute most significantly to the U.S. trade deficit and impose the largest tariffs.
“There’s what we would call the ‘Dirty 15,'” Bessent said on Fox Business, adding they have substantial tariffs and other unfair trade barriers. “It’s 15% of the countries, but it’s a huge amount of our trading volume.”
The White House has not released a list of the “Dirty 15” countries. But the countries with the largest trade deficits with the U.S. are China, the EU, Mexico, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, Thailand, Switzerland, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and South Africa, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Is Trump narrowing the tariffs?
Bessent’s remarks suggests the Trump administration could be narrowing the scope of the reciprocal tariffs from what Trump originally proposed.
And although Trump this week imposed tariffs on the auto industry, his administration is likely to exclude other sector-specific tariffs that Trump has previously discussed, according to recent reports from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.
This includes 25% tariffs on all semiconductor, microchips and pharmaceutical imports that Trump has said he intends to impose but has yet to carry out.
Asked on Friday if he expected to put any exemptions in place for life-saving medicines, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while flying to South Florida, “Well, we’ll be announcing it soon. But we have to bring pharmaceuticals, drugs and pharmaceuticals, back into our country.”
The uncertainty continues a whiplash pattern when it comes to Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs, which he’s frequently threatened, only to quickly pull back, in multiple instances.
