The White House has confirmed that US President Donald Trump will impose new tariffs this week, but it provided no details about the size and scope of the measures that have raised concerns over an intensifying global trade war.
Trump kept rivals and allies alike guessing about who would be targeted and by how much, but promised to be “very kind” when announcing tariffs on Wednesday, which he has dubbed “Liberation Day”. In recent weeks, he has made several tariff announcements, then quickly changed tack on them.
Global stocks remained volatile ahead of the so-called “reciprocal tariffs“, which Trump says are necessary to combat unfair trade imbalances with countries that target the United States.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that Trump’s tariffs will take effect immediately after he unveils them on Wednesday.
The Republican leader, an advocate of tariffs for decades, said on Monday night that he had “settled” on a plan, but refused to reveal its specifics.
Trump only said that the tariffs would be lower than what other countries would be charging the US, adding that “we sort of have a world obligation, perhaps”.
“We’re going to be very nice, relatively speaking, we are going to be very kind,” he said.
Trump is set to hold a press conference, dubbed “Make America Wealthy Again”, at the White House at 4pm local time (20:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Trump urged his fellow Republicans in the US Senate to vote against a measure to revoke his tariff policy against Canada, which he tied to a fentanyl “emergency”.
“Republicans in the Senate MUST vote to keep the National Emergency in place,” Trump wrote in a post on his private social media platform.
