new york
CNN
–
President Donald Trump and his administration have been promoted for more than a month as a Super Bowl-like tariff on April 2nd. But as he has demonstrated many times before, Trump once again appears to be offering a lot of hype and small actions.
Trump administration officials are trying to curb expectations that all pledged tariff measures will come into effect on April 2nd. Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal I reported it this weekend. Instead, next week, a massively reduced batch of tariffs will be announced, and could continue further later, but both reports say the situation is fluid and the final decision could change.
So following Monday's Cabinet meeting, Trump said tariffs on various products will be announced in the “very near future.” Later, late Monday afternoon, Trump said, “I might take a break from many countries.”
“We might even be even better than that,” Trump added.
The waffle has sparked more doubt and confusion about the administration's trade policy plan heading into April.
US stocks rose sharply on Monday. Investors were relieved that the tariffs that most punished might not come soon, as many people on Wall Street feared, and they came close to their highest after Trump said they could exempt some countries from tariffs. Trump's comments on Monday added uncertainty to the market about more tariffs coming soon.
The Dow closed 598 points, or 1.42%. The wider S&P 500 rose 1.76%, while Nasdaq composites rose 2.27%.
Trump repeatedly declared “liberation day” next Wednesday, bringing about a massive mutual tariff that would match foreign import taxes in dollars. He was also planning to enact a double 25% tariff on all goods imported from Mexico and Canada after being easily enacted earlier this month. And Trump had committed duties on a variety of goods imported from anywhere, including cars, medicines, microchips, copper, wood and other products.
According to the Journal and Bloomberg, these product-specific tariffs will not be enacted on April 2nd. It is unclear whether they will take effect or will be postponed for the 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods.
White House officials told CNN that no final decisions have been made and tariffs for various sectors and industries may or may not be announced on April 2nd.
The mutual tariffs reported by Bloomberg and the Journal will likely come into effect soon in April, but will be limited to dozens of countries. The first country facing mutual tariffs will likely be 15% of the nations, the 15% of the nations that Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent, who spoke about the Fox business last week, labeled “The Dirty 15.” According to the journal, these trading partners could include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia and Vietnam.
Tariffs on these partners could cover most of the products that appear in the US, but they still represent a major drawback from some of the toughest tariffs Trump has promised.
But Trump has shown that if tariffs on various products are delayed, it won't be delayed very long.
“We need steel, we need medicine, we need aluminum. We need a lot of these things that we don't make anymore, but we're still ready to do all that,” Trump said Monday at the end of the cabinet meeting. “So we're going to announce some of these things in the very near future. It's not a long future. It's a very near future.”
He suggested that there will be an announcement “soon,” and that the car tariffs could come first.
The administration has set the stage for a walkback for a few days. Trump on Friday in the Oval Office suggested that his administration would allow for “flexibility” in tariffs.
Trump has said he is still hesitant to issue carve-outs with tariffs, but he has admitted in the past that tariffs enacted with sledgehammers instead of female cans would cause undue harm to Americans and our interests.
“I'm not going to change. But the word 'flexibility' is an important word,” Trump said Friday. “So it's flexible, but essentially reciprocal,” he added. Most tariffs simply say they match foreign taxes for dollars without engraving.
Meanwhile, negotiations are underway. The EU postponed its retaliation fee last Thursday. This was set to take effect on April 1st as consultations continued. Mexico and Canada delayed plans to retaliate against U.S. tariffs as officials negotiated.
Trump said Monday that the US will impose a 25% tariff on countries that buy oil from Venezuela. The US market seems to be messing up comments, and stocks continued to build at this morning's rally.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.33% as investors sold the bonds in favor of risky assets like stocks and sold them reflecting easing concerns about the impact of Trump's tariffs. Yields and prices move in the opposite direction. Wall Street Fear Gauge, CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX have slid to its lowest level this month, over 8%.
CNN's fear and greedy indicators, which have been in the territory of “extreme fear” since February 25th, have moved to “fear,” a sign that slightly improves Wall Street emotions.
But tariffs not covered by Trump are causing serious whiplash to investors, businesses, trading partners and consumers.
We were here before.
Trump campaigned on the first day with sudden tariffs, but he was unable to fulfill his promise. Instead, he signed some enforcement measures on his first day, which ordered his administration to investigate whether to pursue tariffs on a wide range of goods. However, he announced that 25% tariffs in Canada and Mexico will be on February 1st.
February 1st came and Trump said the tariffs would come on February 4th, not the promised tariffs. Trump then announced a month's delay in tariffs in Canada and Mexico after sending delegations to negotiate.
China's tariffs were introduced on February 4th, but not at the 60% level Trump promised in December. The 10% tariff had an amazing twist. Elimination of Deminimis Elimination, a loophole that allows items under $800 to reach the border tax-free. These packages are numerous and can be a hassle for customs personnel to scan customs duties.
The next day, the US postal service stopped deliveries of all packages from China from entering the US as it failed to comply with the new trade policy. But a few hours later, De Minimis' elimination came back temporarily until the commerce department was able to decide how to police it.
Then Trump promised “the big one.” Customs duty.
Instead, the plan for Trump to announce many fanfares in his oval office on February 13th was made up of notes expressed in vague terms that provided almost concrete details. Stocks surged that day as investors celebrated their tariff policy.
On March 3rd, 25% tariffs were enacted for three days in Canada and Mexico. On March 6, Trump delayed tariffs on all neighboring countries that are compliant with the USMCA trade agreement.
On March 11, Trump threatened a 50% tariff on Canada's aluminum and steel, but retreated on the same day after Ontario agreed to suspend a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. The president also threatens a duties of up to 250% on Canadian dairy products, mutual tariffs on Canadian wood, and a 200% on European alcohol. It is unclear what the situation for these threats is.
Trump implemented tariffs on all imported steel and aluminum on March 12, but does not represent a significant increase over those already in place.
The round-trip creates a ton of uncertainty for businesses paralyzed by Wall Street volatility, consumer disruption and the inability to plan for the next thing.
