Six bombshells from Donald Trump's tariffs announcement
The world is now facing fresh economic uncertainty
In a devastating speech, Donald Trump has confirmed he will hit every country in the world with eye-watering import taxes.
The US president delivered a major shake-up for his country's trading relationship with everyone else, issuing tariffs on imports from all corners of the globe.
His fiercest measures were reserved for the countries that Mr Trump believes to be the USA's worst trading partners.
In a bombshell moment, on what Mr Trump has described his country's 'liberation day', the president claimed other countries had 'looted, pillaged, raped and plundered' the US over the years.
The president believes his measures could spark a boom in US manufacturing - with the strong-arm tactic being used to force American companies to return factories to the country.
He claimed the measures would 'make America wealthy again'. But his speech has left the world - including the UK - facing fresh economic uncertainty, the Mirror reports.
These are the six key things we learnt from Mr Trump's devastating tariffs speech on Wednesday evening (April 2).
1. All imports to the US will be taxed at 10 per cent - with more charged on the 'worst' offenders
The White House announced there would be a 'baseline' tariff of 10 per cent on all imports.
And imports from countries Mr Trump considers to be the worst offenders on trade will be charged at a higher rate.
The rate for each country is calculated, Mr Trump said, by adding up all the tariffs charged by each country, along with the notional value of 'non-tariff barriers' - so regulatory issues, like foods being excluded from the market because of banned additives. He also mentioned VAT, but not in any great detail.
And because America is 'nice', in Mr Trump's words, they'll arbitrarily half that figure in order to come up with each country's tariff.
It's entirely unclear how they've come up with the calculations. Are each country's tariffs added up by percentage point? By cash value? We don't know. And how do you calculate the value of a non-tariff barrier?
2. It's unclear if the tariffs will be on top of each other
It's still unclear whether the 10 per cent tariff is to be added on top of any other existing tariff.
If so, for example, a Jaguar Landrover car imported to the US will have a 25 per cent import tax on it PLUS the 10 per cent baseline tariffs.
A White House briefing note suggested the reciprocal tariffs (higher rate) and specific item taxes would not be charged on top of each other.
But it's unclear about whether that also applies to the 10 per cent baseline tariff.
3. China and the EU will be hit the hardest
Top of Mr Trump's list for tariffs were China and the European Union.
China, Mr Trump says, charges America 67 per cent imports overall - between tariffs and market blockages - so will be charged an eye watering 34 per cent
The EU, again, according to the White House, charges America the equivalent of 39 per cent in tariffs and blockages - so will be charged 20 per cent.
4. Countries will have to play nice if they want to get rid of the tariffs
Mr Trump said it's possible for countries to negotiate carve-outs from the tariffs.
How? Drop your tariffs AND regulatory barriers.
So in our case, we'd have to drop what minimal monetary tariffs we have on US imports to the UK.
But more importantly, we'd have to drop the barriers we have in place that ban, for example, American chicken and beef for food safety reasons.
5. Americans are going to see huge increases in the cost of consumer goods
There was a feeling in the US that tariffs on cars wouldn't be so bad, because people only buy a car every few years, and don't repair them that often, so might not notice the inflationary impact of a tariff on autos.
What Mr Trump announced last night is different. This is, assuming companies do what they almost always do and pass on cost increases to the customer, an increase of at least 10 per cent on all imported products.
That's going to make a huge difference to Americans' weekly shop.
6. And this is when it all kicks off...
The 10 per cent tariff imposed on all countries - including the UK - will come into force at 5am on Saturday - or 12.01am in Washington.
Higher rate reciprocal tariffs will come into force at 5am on Wednesday for countries Mr Trump regards as having a large trade deficit with the US.
The tariffs will remain in place 'until such a time as President Trump determines that the threat posed by the trade deficit and underlying nonreciprocal treatment is satisfied, resolved, or mitigated', according to the White House.