Trump said he was acting to bring in hundreds of billions in new revenue to the U.S. government and restore fairness to global trade.
Trump declared a national economic emergency to levy the tariffs.
Trump was fulfilling a key campaign promise as he imposed what he called “reciprocal” tariffs on trade partners, acting without Congress under the 1977 International Emergency Powers Act.
The administration essentially calculated its tariff rates to raise revenues equal in size to the trade imbalances with those nations.
The White House says the tariffs and other trade imbalances led to an $1.2 trillion imbalance last year.
As of now, goods that comply with the USMCA North American trade pact would be excluded from those tariffs.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said the tariffs are “part of the chaos and dysfunction” being generated across the Trump administration. »