US President Donald Trump, Plan to announce tomorrow, April 2, a day that baptized “Liberation Day”, new tariffs against several countries, to a measure that could shake the global economic system as it has not been seen in decades and with unpredictable consequences.
The announcement will take place at 16 local time in Washington (14 hours from Guatemala) In a great event called “Make America Wealthy Again” (Make the US rich again), which will be held in the Rosalheda of the White House, where the cherry trees are already in flower, and to which all the members of their cabinet will go.
Tomorrow will follow more tariffs on day 3, aimed at the automobile sector.
These are the keys for not getting lost With the measures Trump plans to announce in the next few days:
“Reciprocal” tariffs
Many details are still unknown On how the “reciprocal tariffs” will be implemented that Trump wants to announce this Wednesday against those countries that have barriers against US products and services, a measure that could especially affect the European Union (EU).
The idea is simple: Washington will raise its tariffs on foreign goods and services to match commercial and fiscal barriers – like European VAT— that other nations impose on American products. “If they charge us, we charge them,” Trump repeated on several occasions.
These reciprocal tariffs could adopt different forms. For example, different levies could be established depending on the product and its country of origin, or set a tariff for all imports from a country, calculating the average of what that nation taxes American products.
One of the options Trump has on the table It is the imposition of generalized tariffs of 20% on most imports that arrive in the United States, something that could cause strong turbulence in financial markets and unleashed reprisals of their commercial partners.
The White House has advanced which will impose tariffs against Brazil, India, South Korea and the European Union, although he has not clarified whether he will sanction the EU as a block or if he will evaluate each country separately. What has made it clear is that “for now, there will be no exemptions.”
Tariffs to isolate Venezuela
Tomorrow, Wednesday, the tariffs with which Trump threatened at the end of March could come into force and that seek to insulate Venezuela economically even more. Specifically, the idea would be to impose 25% levies to countries that buy Venezuelan oil or gas.
This decision would be directly to China, The main destination of the Venezuelan crude, with purchases of about 500 thousand barrels per day.
After China, the United States is the second largest oil buyer in Venezuela, with 228 thousand barrels per day. However, Trump has already taken measures to reduce that flow, as the revocation in March of the license that allowed the American oil company Chevron to operate in the Caribbean country.
Greater punishment to Mexico and Canada
Although the White House has not confirmed it, this Wednesday they could also go into force Additional tariffs to Mexico and Canada, The main business partners of the United States.
Already on March 4, Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexicobut established a month moratorium for the products of these two countries covered by the Free Trade Agreement T-MEC, which includes from agricultural products to car parts or certain types of machinery.
In this way, tomorrow April 2 could begin to apply tariffs on these products, which in practice It would mean the death of the treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC), Agreement that Trump himself negotiated in his first term (2017-2021) to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The automobile sector will be taxed with 25%
The automotive sector will face its own tariffs this week, When at midnight on Thursday (April 3), 25% leaflets enter into force To all imported cars to the United States.
The White House ensures that this measure will encourage national manufacturing, although it could also cause a price increase for US consumers and harm the great cars manufacturers of the United States that depend on the global supply chains.
To try to soften that impact on the US automotive industry, Trump has decided that cars parts manufactured in Mexico and Canada will be temporarily exempt from that tariff, although the measure is expected to strongly affect countries such as Germany, Japan or South Korea.