President Donald Trump unveiled the White House Rose on Wednesday on Wednesday, a set of prices that have long been promised on imports as part of his “America First” program.
It is a moment in the creation of the president who presented it on several occasions as “liberation day”, claiming that it will release the United States from dependence on foreign goods.
A few hours before the announcement, however, Trump and his best advisers were still trying to find common ground where they agree.
“Everything is still very fluid,” said a senior administration official on Wednesday morning after meetings on the subject.
The price announcement is a serious political bet for Trump, who has returned to the White House largely because of his promise to improve the economy.
“On April 2, 2025, one of the most important days in modern American history will be one of the most important days,” the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.
Some economists, however, have raised concerns, its movements could drag the economy into a recession and the markets clashed before the announcement on Wednesday, scheduled at 4 p.m., after the end of market exchanges.
In this file photo of November 13, 2020, President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC
Katopodis / Getty Images Tasos, file
The White House had been a mom on the details before Wednesday’s announcement, only confirming that the prices will come into effect immediately after being announced.
Certain options debated in recent weeks, reported the main correspondent for the White House in ABC News, Selina Wang, was a faithful rate of 20% on all imports; Different rate levels for each country depending on their samples from American products; or prices on approximately 15% of countries with the largest commercial imbalances with the United States
Since its inauguration, Trump has implemented samples from specific products, including steel and aluminum. He also set up prices on goods from China, Canada and Mexico.
Actions have had relations with Canada and Mexico, two key and neighbors. Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week the US and Canada’s deep relationship on economic, security and military issues was over.
Canada has promised reprisal prices and Mexico said it would give its response later this week. The European Union also said that it had a “solid plan to retaliate”.
But the officials of Trump and the administration plow all the steam, arguing that America has been unjustly scammed by other nations for years and that it is time for reciprocity.
“It’s simple: if you create your product in America, you will not pay any price,” said Leavitt on Tuesday.
Freight trucks are headed for us at the Otay Commercial Crossing in Tijuana, Baja California State, Mexico, March 27, 2025.
Guillermo Arias / AFP via Getty Images
The economy was the first issue for voters during the 2024 presidential election, the Americans blamed President Joe Biden at high prices and Trump promising to cause families’ financial relief.
The administration has painted prices like a panacea for the economy, arguing that any pain felt in the short term will be offset by what they predict will be major increases in manufacturing, employment growth and government income.
But we do not know how ready to give Trump to go beyond what he called “a little disturbance”.
Already, a little more than two months after Trump’s second term, polls show that his management of the economy is encountered by hindsight.
An Associated Press-Noc Center for Public Affairs Research investigation Published Monday discovered that the majority of Americans (58%) disapprove of the way Trump has managed the economy.
On its protectionist trade negotiations with other nations, in particular 60% of Americans have declared that they so far disapproved of their approach. It was his weakest problem in the survey among the Republicans.
Trump’s GOP allies on Capitol Hill said they trusted the president, but admitted that there will be a certain uncertainty to start.
“It may be difficult at the start, but I think it will make sense to the Americans and it will help all Americans,” Mike Johnson Chamber President said on Tuesday at his weekly press conference alongside other members of the Republican management.
Chamber Mike Johnson responds to prices while meeting journalists at a press conference in Capitol, Washington, April 1, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
“You will see the prices change,” said the Georgia correspondent, representative Rich McCormick, a Republican from Georgia, Jay O’Brien. “We are responsible for the American people. We represent them, if they speak strong enough … I think the president was very good to react to the public.”
Democrats, on the other hand, are committed to fighting “tooth and nail” prices and tried to force a vote to reduce their authorities to impose samples in Canada.
“Trump has done a lot of bad things. It’s up there,” said the head of the Senate minority on Wednesday, Chuck Schumer.
Schumer criticized what he said was a “crazy and crazy chaotic trade war” created by the administration.
