Donald Trump says tariffs are coming. This message from the US president is consistent.
But what tariffs and when? Import taxes are so dense and fast as it has taken office that it can be difficult to monitor.
Trump has already increased the duties on Chinese imports, as well as steel, aluminum and some goods from Canada and Mexico. Higher car taxes should come into force this week.
We are now waiting for Trump to reveal the details of his plan for a broader set of tariffs that his team has spent in the last few weeks in development.
The White House calls it “The Day of Liberation.” So, what can we learn on Wednesday?
How big are tariffs?
The White House has not said how high tariffs can pass, although they are floating different possible percentages by analysts.
With regard to the campaign last year, Trump supported a 10% tariff for the board of all the imports entering the United States, sometimes suggesting that this could be 20% up to 60% for imports from China.
Once, he introduced the idea of ”reciprocal” rates, suggesting that percentages can vary in the country in the country.
“Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them,” he said in February, shortly before He ordered employees to develop such a planS
The White House almost immediately complicates the picture, noting that their recommendations will reflect not only the tariffs, but also other policies that they believe are unfair to American businesses, such as value added tax (VAT).
This has led to a struggle as business and political leaders are trying to gain an idea of how big a new tax can face; And how whatever is announced on Wednesday will interact with other obligations, such as those of steel and aluminum, which are already in force by Trump.
Officials in Europe, for example, are preparing for a two -digit export tariff. Trump earlier this year said he plans to hit goods from the block with a 25% import tax.
Which countries can be affected?
The Trump administration has not confirmed which countries will be struck, although it has abandoned the message on Wednesday as soft.
On Sunday, the president said the new tariffs could apply to “all countries”, which implies a possible return to the board for the board it supported in the campaign.
He hoped in some countries, such as the United Kingdom, who thought they could swim under the radar, although many still hoped to ultimately cope with a deal.
But it's still unclear To what extent the tariffs will be applied universally or more complicated.
Last month, US Secretary of Finance Scott Bechent said the efforts focused on “dirty 15” – 15% of the countries that represent the bigger part of the US trade and impose rates or other rules that put us disadvantaged.
The service of the US Sales Representative, as it prepares to develop recommendations, identifies the countries in which it is “particularly interested”.
They were Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and Vietnam.
Trump himself has retained some of his most ranked criticism of historical allies and major trading partners, such as Canada and the EU.
“A friend is often, much worse than the enemy,” he said last week.
What influence will tariffs have?
Tariffs are taxes on imports. So the big question is who will pay?
Technically, there is a simple answer: US companies that attract goods are the companies that will face the account, especially if the White House starts collecting the rates “immediately”, as spokeswoman Carolyn Levitus says on Tuesday.
But the more tariffs are, the more companies will look for ways to compensate for these costs, or by changing suppliers, pushing business partners to share weight – either by raising prices for Americans.
Many companies have said they are already preparing for this step. But this is a risk game because if companies raise prices too much, buyers will just stay away.
Dynamics have increased the risks of economic recession in both the United States – and outside its borders, where many companies rely on sales in the United States.
Trump says companies that want to avoid tariffs can simply do their business in the United States, but this is not an immediate or easy solution, given the high cost of hiring and creating factories.
Enter currency changes and revenge from other countries in the mixture, and the consequences of Trump's candidacy to reset the balances of global trade trade will probably be difficult to predict long after Wednesday's message.
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