Trump makes final decision on reciprocal tariff plans
Trump has made a final decision on how he wants to proceed with his sweeping reciprocal tariff plans, a White House official told CNBC’s Megan Cassella.
The update marks an apparent end to the internal deliberations that were reportedly ongoing in the hours before the Wednesday afternoon announcement event.
— Kevin Breuninger and Megan Cassella
Workers install steel rods at a construction site in Miami, Florida, U.S., March 11, 2025.
Giorgio Viera | Reuters
Trump will be joined in the Rose Garden by workers from industries that are likely to be affected by his reciprocal tariffs.
The guest list includes “steel workers, autoworkers, oil and gas workers, steam fitters, truck drivers, and hardworking Americans from a variety of trades,” a senior White House official told NBC News.
— Kevin Breuninger and Peter Alexander
Shana Novak | Stone | Getty Images
Trump has said tariffs on pharmaceutical products imported into the U.S. were coming soon, but it is not clear if they will be announced at the White House event.
Those potential tariffs would likely drive up U.S. drug prices for patients because even if companies moved to produce those medications domestically, it would take years and cost more than producing medicines abroad, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger said in a note last week.
Predicting the potential impact of tariffs on pharmaceutical companies is difficult since they have vast and complex manufacturing networks with multiple steps, sometimes in different geographies, TD Cowen analyst Steve Scala said in a note.
But Scala said Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and AbbVie appear better positioned than others to weather tariffs because they have more major manufacturing plants in the U.S. than internationally.
The majority of their sites responsible for producing the active ingredients in drugs are also in the U.S., he added.
Meanwhile, Novartis and Roche “look more at risk” because they have few U.S. plants and a higher share of active ingredient sites that are international, Scala said.
– Annika Kim Constantino
Some tequila makers have been warning about how tariffs could hit their businesses, but Colorado-based Suerte Tequila said it won’t raise prices to offset tariffs.
“Tequila margins are stronger than ever,” said Laurence Spiewak, Suerte Tequila CEO.
Still, the industry could see a hit with tariffs on Mexico.
In 2024, the U.S. imported $5.2 billion worth of tequila and $93 million worth of mezcal from Mexico, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.
— Brandon Gomez and Michele Luhn
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on November 06, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Kent Nishimura | Getty Images
Trump is targeting Mitch McConnell and three other Republican senators in a critical Truth Social post, urging them to oppose a bill that would undo U.S. tariffs on Canada.
McConnell, Rand Paul, Ky., Sen. Susan Collins, Me. and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, “will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change,” Trump writes.
He presses the senators to “fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy.”
It is not immediately clear what Trump means by “tariffing the value” of fentanyl.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee members Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) (L) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) talk during the confirmation hearing for Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Labor Department, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on February 19, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Trump calls the Senate bill introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a “ploy” intended to “show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four.”
The president also calls on Kentucky, Alaska and Maine voters to call these senators’ offices.
“They have been extremely difficult to deal with and, unbelievably disloyal to hardworking Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Party itself,” Trump adds
— Kevin Breuninger
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he stands ready to remove retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products if Trump cancels heavy American import duties on Canadian goods.
“We’re willing to take these tariffs off, like in the next minute, if he said he’s taking their tariffs off,” Ford told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Canada has imposed 25% tariffs on more than $20 billion worth of U.S. goods in retaliation for the Trump administration’s steel and aluminum duties.
In addition, Ottawa has slapped 25% counter-tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods, in response to Trump’s imposition of broad-based tariffs on imports from Canada.
— Yun Li
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, March 31, 2025.
Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Trump is hyping his reciprocal tariffs in a Truth Social post declaring the day of their unveiling “LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA!”
Trump commonly refers to his tariffs in historic terms, raising expectations and concerns about how severe the duties could be.
— Kevin Breuninger
A Kia Ceed Sportswagon plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) in the quality control inspection area at the Kia Slovakia sro plant in Zilina, Slovakia, on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.
Akos Stiller | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Slovakia, the landlocked country east of Austria, could suffer the most from the new auto tariffs that Trump said will start to take effect Thursday.
“Germany’s car industry is in the eye of the storm and by far most exposed in terms of value, with major players like Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche likely getting hit by tariffs,” economists Inga Fechner and Rico Luman of Dutch bank ING said in a recent research note.
“But Slovakia — home to several car plants — is most exposed in terms of total US export volume,” they said.
The nation of 5.4 million people produces more cars per capita than any other country in the world. And the “Detroit of Europe” relies heavily on U.S. trade, with autos comprising a major chunk of its U.S. exports.
— Kevin Breuninger and Sam Meredith
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 11, 2025.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The U.S. stock market was poised to open lower Wednesday as Wall Street continues to struggle in the face of the looming tariff policies from the Trump administration.
The S&P 500 is now down 4.2% over the past month and is 8.4% below its record high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has dropped 7.4% over the past month and is 13.6% below its record high.
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The U.S. stock market has struggled in recent weeks.
Uncertainty about tariffs is not the only reason the stock market has struggled, as some tech stocks that are thought to be relatively insulated from trade war concerns have also fallen.
Other stock moves seem to have a more direct line to concerns about tariffs and their economic impact, such as the 12% decline in the past month for Stellantis.
On the other hand, gold and Treasury bonds have both been rallying in recent days, a sign that investors may be looking to reduce risk. Gold was trading near a record high Wednesday morning.
— Jesse Pound
Vehicles cross the Peace Bridge connecting Canada and the United States amid the uncertainty of tariffs policy, at the Canada-U.S. border crossing in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada April 2, 2025.
Carlos Osorio | Reuters
The scope of new tariffs has yet to be finalized by the White House, the Bloomberg news service reported.
“The White House has not reached a firm decision on their tariff plan,” Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the plan.
Several options are under consideration at the White House. One is a universal flat tariff rate applied to all trade partners, while another would tailor tariffs to each trade partner.
A third option prepared by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office would apply a flat rate to a select group of countries.
— Dan Mangan
Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont said the tariff disagreements between Trump and Democrats go beyond typical party differences, calling it a “very, very serious situation.”
“We believe what President Trump is doing is, in many cases, lawless and really beyond any norms,” he said on “Squawk Box.”
Welch said Congress has tariff authority that can be traced back to the Constitution.
Trump’s actions are an “overreach” in service of a personal agenda, he said.
“There’s a real abdication by Congress of its own authority,” he said.
— Laya Neelakandan
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 26, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office has prepared a third option for tariffs, The Wall Street Journal reports.
This tariff structure would set a rate below 20% and apply it only to a small group of trade partners.
There are two other plans under consideration at the White House.
- A universal flat tariff rate applied to all trade partners.
- A different tariff rate for every trade partner that reflects what the administration views as that country’s overall import barriers to U.S. goods.
Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
— Erin Doherty
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a press briefing, as headlines from articles on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs are displayed, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S April 1, 2025.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
Trump’s new tariffs will take effect “immediately” after he announces them in the Rose Garden, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
The timeline offered a morsel of clarity about the reciprocal tariff plan, which remains highly opaque just hours before it is set to be unveiled.
— Kevin Breuninger
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney takes part in a press conference to discuss a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada March 27, 2025.
Blair Gable | Reuters
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke on the phone in advance of looming U.S. tariffs to reaffirm their “strong trading and investment relationship,” Carney’s government in Ottawa said.
“With challenging times ahead,” the two leaders “emphasized the importance of safeguarding North American competitiveness while respecting the sovereignty of each nation,” Ottawa said in a statement after Tuesday’s call.
Carney also laid out his “plan to fight unjustified trade actions against Canada” by the Trump administration.
In separate remarks to reporters Tuesday, Carney said Canada is prepared to retaliate against whatever actions the U.S. takes Wednesday.
“We have held back, but we will not disadvantage Canadian producers and Canadian workers relative to American workers,” he said.
— Kevin Breuninger
People shop at a grocery store in Manhattan on April 01, 2025, in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
Trump is about to drop a sweeping tariff policy on an economy that already seems to be showing cracks.
Several top analysts have lowered economic growth projections in recent weeks and warned of persistent inflation, dragging the term stagflation back into the conversation.
Strategists and fund managers have also recently raised the probability of a recession, a shift that stems in large part from concerns about the Trump administration’s fiscal policies.
These fears coincide with a highly volatile stock market and souring sentiment from consumers and businesses alike.
— Kevin Breuninger
