Donald Trump’s two-word message as US economy in meltdown over tariffs blitz
President Donald Trump has issued a two-word message - "hang tough" - to Americans after his universal tariffs on all imports to the US came into effect.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump unveiled a chart of all the new tariffs he would impose upon other nations, affecting trade worldwide. The US president branded April 2 as “Liberation Day”, with the aim of protecting US manufacturing and bolstering jobs by making foreign-made goods less attractive.
The new tariffs - a universal 10% on all imported goods - were imposed by Trump via executive order and sent economic shockwaves around the world. Shortly afterwards, US Stocks reported their worst day since 2020. Then, on Saturday morning, the President made some of his first comments since the tariffs came into effect.
The baseline tariff on all imports to the US was set at 10% and came into effect on Saturday, April 5. Several countries, including the UK, will only face a basic rate. Other countries that got off lightly include Singapore, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
However, the White House also said that they would impose what they describe as specific reciprocal tariffs on around 60 of the “worst offenders”. These will go into effect on April 9. The key trading partners subject to these customised tariff rates include China (54% including earlier tariffs), Cambodia (49%), Vietnam (46%), Thailand (36%) and the EU (20%).
In addition, the president confirmed the beginning of a new American "25% tariff on all foreign made-automobiles".
"China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close. They, and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly," Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform at 9am on Saturday morning.
"We have been the dumb and helpless 'whipping post', but not any longer."
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Trump then added that the administration is "bringing back jobs and businesses like never before," before declaring: "THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN. HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic."
Stocks fell sharply in the US and across the globe on Thursday, with many segments of the market witnessing their biggest losses since the pandemic in 2020.
The UK's luxury car maker, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), says it will "pause" shipments to the US in April, as it considers how to address "the new trading terms" of Trump's tariffs.
"As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions, including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans," JLR said in a statement.
While the world has been left reeling by the tariffs, Trump himself is far from stressed. He was seen golfing on Saturday - for the third day in a row. Sporting his signature MAGA hat, he was spotted at his golf course in Jupiter, Florida. He was photographed in his motorcade reading an article about China's response to his tariffs.
