Monday, April 14, 2025

Hours after they were imposed, the so-called “reciprocal” tariffs imposed on goods from 56 countries by the Trump administration on April 9 were paused for 90 days. However, the accompanying 10% tariff on goods from nearly every country first imposed on April 5 and the tariffs on $400 billion of auto imports imposed on April 3 continued to bite.

The new tariffs introduced in the year to date represent the largest U.S. tax increase in 50 years. Even with the aforementioned pause, they mark a 10-fold increase in the average U.S. tariff to approximately 25%, a level higher than seen in the wake of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff.

Duties on Chinese Goods Soar: Tariffs on goods from China, subjected now to multiple rounds of hikes this year, have been raised to an estimated 170%. This figure takes into account the Section 301 tariffs imposed in 2018-2019 as well as this year’s rounds of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Rounds of tit-for-tat retaliation swiftly followed the original “reciprocal” tariff of 34% on Chinese goods announced on April 2.

Negotiations Underway? U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Congress in hearings this week that dozens of countries had already offered to address U.S. concerns by lowering tariffs and non-tariff barriers. Earlier this week, Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were tasked with beginning talks with Japan. Additionally, Greer noted ongoing talks with the European Union, United Kingdom, South Korea, Vietnam, Mexico, Ecuador, Israel, and Argentina, among others. He said:

«What we’ve told them is if you have a better idea to achieve reciprocity and get our trade deficit down, we want to talk to you. If a country has an alternative method that they think would help us meet those goals, then we are happy to meet with them»