Hours ahead of Donald Trump‘s ‘Liberation Day’, his advisers were presenting options to him on Tuesday on how to go about the tariff thing as it involves a lot of countries and markets. Though Trump Monday announced that he settled on a tariff plan, one White House Official told CNN that they didn’t believe Trump would arrive at a decision until hours before the 4 pm announcement today.
20% tariff on most imports: White House disagreement
Trump’s aides have drafted a proposal to impose about 20%tariff on most imports to the United States. This plan is believed to send shock waves to the global economy and hence several options have been presented to Trump.
- One option is to raise import duties on products from virtually every country.
- The White House was also considering an order that would apply a different tariff rate to individual countries.
- Trump, they said, has pushed for a universal tariff as it’s simpler than country-specific measures.
- Wilbur Ross, who served as commerce secretary during Trump’s first term, said the White House is considering setting one flat rate on imports of between 15 percent and 25 percent.
- Discussions were held on exempting some things than US does not make like certain wood products etc.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent floated a tariff number for each country. But the downside of this is that one country can ship their goods to countries that have lower import duties and then get inside the US from there.
‘It’s ultimately Trump’s decision to make’
Wilbur Ross confirmed to the Washington Post that there are disagreements among Trump’s senior team as some people in the White House are more extreme. “At the end of the day, this time, unlike last time, it’s ultimately Trump’s decision to make and everyone will fall in line with his decision,” said Ross.
