Trump pushes aides to go bigger on tariffs as key deadline nears

[Zorro]

The president privately tells advisers that import duties represent a generational opportunity to transform the U.S. economy.

President Donald Trump is pushing senior advisers to go bigger on tariff policy as they prepare for what the White House has called “Liberation Day,” the April 2 date he has set for a major escalation in his global trade war, four people familiar with the matter said.

Although many of his allies on Wall Street and Capitol Hill have urged the White House to take a more conciliatory approach, Trump has continued to press for aggressive measures to fundamentally transform the U.S. economy, the people said.

Trump’s advisers are in intensive deliberations about the exact scope of the import duties to be imposed, which officials have described as affecting trillions of dollars worth of trade.

The option viewed as most likely, publicly outlined by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this month, would set tariffs on products from the 15 percent of countries the administration deems the worst U.S. trading partners, which account for almost 90 percent of imports. Trump has also moved forward with other tariffs that apply to imports from every country, but only on specific sectors. Trump applied 25 percent tariffs to all automobile imports on Wednesday and has suggested similar measures for the pharmaceutical and lumber industries, among others.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/29/republicans-trump-tariffs-trade-war/

It will be interesting to see how the markets react next week...

[tanyev]

1. MOAR!!

[Wiz Imp]

2. "Trump privately tells advisers that import duties represent a generational opportunity to transform the U.S. economy"

He's right. Never was a President in this situation where his idiotic ideas about tariffs can single-handedly destroy the economy of the US and quite possibly create a worldwide depression. At least history will forever remeber him for his "impact" on the economy.