The “Dirty 15” ended up the “Dirty 18” as President Donald Trump announced a slew of significant reciprocal tariffs on what he described as “Liberation Day.”
China was slapped with a reciprocal tariff of 34 percent. Other Southeast Asian countries that Chinese companies use for transshipping, such as Vietnam and Cambodia, received nearly 50 percent levies.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
China will now face total U.S. tariffs of 54 percent, including the existing 20 percent fentanyl-related tariffs, bringing the rate close to the 60 percent Trump promised during his campaign. These levels will have a sizable impact on the Chinese economy, which has already been struggling with consumption stimulation and has increasingly relied on exports.
Israel, which was slapped with a 17 percent duty, eliminated its tariffs on U.S. goods ahead of the imposition.
Canada and Mexico are not subject to reciprocal tariffs for now, said the White House, adding that the two countries will move to the reciprocal tariff regime after resolving the fentanyl and migration issues.
The current exemptions for goods covered by the USMCA free trade deal, implemented on March 6, also remain. Canada also previously received a 10 percent tariff on its energy exports, and this will be unchanged.
The White House clarified that specific goods covered by the Section 232 action, such as automobiles, car parts, and aluminum, would not be subject to reciprocal tariffs. These products will instead fall under their specific tariff regimes.
The president implemented the latest trade measures as he declared a national emergency, citing the threat from trade deficits and “structural imbalances in the global trading system.” The 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act grants the president authority to regulate imports.
Trump branded the tariffs as “kind” levies because he cut the assessed equivalent tariff rate of a foreign country, including tariff and non-tariff barriers, by half.
By doing so, Trump can focus on the negotiation and avoid the distraction of arguing on the assumptions his advisors’ economic model uses. However, if other countries retaliate with their tariffs, Trump could go full range, said Frank Xie, a business professor at the University of South Carolina Aiken.
Trump announced the reciprocal tariffs after the market closed. Still, stock futures tumbled between 2.7 percent and 4.7 percent during after-hours trading.
—Terri Wu, Joseph Lord
COMPROMISE BUDGET BLUEPRINT
Senate Republicans yesterday released a 70-page budget resolution intended as a compromise between the upper and lower chambers.
The resolution comes as the House and Senate continue to work towards the passage of President Donald Trump’s agenda through a single reconciliation package. To move forward with the process, both the House and Senate need to agree to an identical budget resolution.
“Today is one of the most important steps toward ensuring the Republican majority fulfills its promise to the American people that we will secure our border, strengthen our national security, make President Trump’s tax cuts permanent, and reduce spending,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the resolution.
The resolution comes after weeks of negotiations between the two chambers—but already, there are signs of division that could pose hurdles to moving forward with the package.
The centerpiece of the proposal is making permanent the tax cuts passed as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—which was a key demand in the Senate from the beginning.
To do this, Graham said, current policy would be used as the baseline to calculate the bill’s long-term impact on the deficit.
“This will allow the tax cuts to be permanent—which will tremendously boost the economy,” Graham said.
However, it will ultimately be up to the parliamentarian to confirm compliance with the Byrd Rule, which requires that any provision that will impact the budget beyond ten years be made temporary.
The measure calls for the House to allocate $100 billion for defense, while it calls on the Senate to allocate $150 billion for the same purpose.
Some differences are still permitted during this phase of the process, as this would give the House and the Senate flexibility in proposing drafts of reconciliation bills. Ultimately, however, an identical one would need to pass both chambers to get to Trump’s desk.
The resolution instructs the House to allocate $90 billion toward homeland security, while it calls for the Senate to put up $175 billion for the same. The final package is expected to include several border security measures.
It also calls for spending cuts, with the House ordered to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, though that’s expected to rise to at least $2 trillion. The Senate is ordered to look for a far heftier $4 trillion in cuts by the resolution.
The resolution leaves intact an earlier call for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to find $880 billion in cuts—which would necessitate cuts to Medicaid.
This issue has been the central rallying point Democrats have taken against the legislation. Cuts to any of the major entitlement programs, including Medicaid as well as Medicare and Social Security, often carry steep political costs.
Republicans have said that these cuts would be intended solely to root out fraud and abuse, but Democrats have said that benefits will be threatened by them.
The Senate budget resolution also instructs the House to raise the debt ceiling by as much as $4 trillion, while for the Senate, it is $5 trillion.
There are already some warning signs for the Senate proposal.
Debt ceiling raises have historically been unpopular with many Republicans—and for several in both chambers, $5 trillion may be too much.
To move forward with the reconciliation process, Republicans can spare only three defections in both chambers of Congress to move forward with the Senate’s compromise proposal.
If leadership can’t garner enough votes to move ahead, further negotiations between the two chambers will be necessary.
—Joseph Lord, Jackson Richman
BOOKMARKS
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says the Senate Commerce Committee may issue a subpoena to the U.S. Army for a memo on why it failed to use a helicopter safety system near the Reagan National Washington Airport. Cruz has given the Army until Friday to release the memo, warning that if there is another fatal helicopter crash in the interim, those “deaths will be on the Army’s hands.”
Doğukan Günaydın, a Turkish citizen and University of Minnesota graduate student is suing to be released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after being arrested last week by plainclothes officers. The Department of Homeland Security says his F-1 student visa has been revoked for a 2023 drunk driving conviction.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it will get rid of a third, nonbinary gender option—” X”—on government forms and ID. in accordance with a Jan. 20 executive order by Trump. “President Trump promised the American people a revolution of common sense, and that includes making sure that the policy of the U.S. government agrees with simple biological reality,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Many African nations are dealing with the $13 billion vacuum left by the Trump administration’s withdrawal of funds from entities like the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The Epoch Times’ Darren Taylor has an in-depth look at how the move has exposed widespread government corruption in many of those countries.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 on Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration acted lawfully when it denied two e-cigarette companies permission to produce flavored vapes. Attorneys for the government argued the companies knew that the FDA “was concerned about the fact that flavors are attractive to youth,” but the companies argued they had planned steps to discourage underage use of their products.
—Stacy Robinson
