Donald Trump Says US Will Tariff The Entire World, "Let's See What Happens"

US President Donald Trump has declared that he will tariff the entire world, as the United States gears up for what he has called "Liberation Day" on April 2. His announcement came aboard the Air Force One. In the coming days, we would impose tariffs on "all countries", he said.

Till now, the talk in Washington was about reciprocal tariffs on nations that levy an import duty on US goods and services and those with which the US has trade imbalances. But that is not the case, as Donald Trump has said.

"We would start with all countries, so let's see what happens," President Trump told reporters onboard the presidential aircraft. With just 48 hours to 'Liberation Day', last-minute hopes that President Trump might scale back some of those threatened tariffs.

DISPELLING 'RUMOURS'

Clarifying that it is not just about a handful of nations which would be affected, President Trump rejected rumours of reciprocal tariffs only on 10 or 15 countries. "I haven't heard any rumour about 15 countries, 10 or 15," he said, adding that "We've been talking about all countries - no cutoffs".

There was speculation that these reciprocal tariffs would impact just over a dozen countries that the Trump administration feels is persistent with "unfair" trade practices. This was because  US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had spoken of such a group of countries, which he had described as the "Dirty 15".

'NICE GUY' TRUMP

Donald Trump also announced that he would be "nicer", more "generous", and "kind" with those nations who levy duties on the US. "The tariffs will be far more generous than those countries were to us, meaning they will be kinder than those countries were to the United States of America over the decades," President Trump claimed, without giving any figures in comparison.

"They ripped us off like no country has ever been ripped off in history and we're going to be much nicer to them, than they were to us. But it's substantial money for the country nevertheless," Donald Trump said.

China has already been penalised as President Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, as well as several other Chinese goods, are currently in place. Tariffs on auto imports are also scheduled to be effective from April 3.

TRUMP vs ECONOMISTS

Peter Navarro, President Trump's top official for matters related to trade, said that "Tariffs on auto imports alone, could raise $100 billion a year." Speaking to Fox News, Mr Navarro noted that by imposing reciprocal tariffs on all countries, the US would "raise about $600 billion every year - that's $6 trillion in 10 years."

While India has been working round-the-clock with US officials to seal a massive trade deal beneficial to both nations - one that would circumvent Trump's reciprocal tariff threat, most other nations have treated Donald Trump's threat as a "tariff war", and have vowed to retaliate.

Economists in the US worry that any tariff imposed on imports will ultimately be borne by the US citizen. They fear that such sweeping tariffs risk stoking inflation and price rise on goods and services across the United States, which would, in turn, lead to an economic downturn.

Donald Trump, however, has repeatedly rubbished economists' claims, and instead, called 'tariff' his favourite word in the dictionary - one that will "make America great again" by raising government revenue and revitalising US industry and manufacturing.