By Gavin Bade, Alex Leary and Kristina Peterson

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration is scrambling to determine the specifics of its new trade agenda ahead of its self-imposed deadline of Wednesday, weighing options as President Trump has promised to remake the American economy with a swath of new tariffs.

One key point of debate is whether to impose individualized tariff rates for U.S. trading partners, as the president has previewed in recent weeks, or revert to his campaign pledge for an across-the-board tariff that would affect virtually every nation doing business with the U.S., say people familiar with the conversations.

Trump spent most of last week playing down expectations for his so-called reciprocal tariff plan on April 2, saying repeatedly that he would be "nicer" than his previous pledges to equalize U.S. tariffs with those charged by other nations, and would consider exempting some nations from tariffs altogether.

But in recent days Trump has pushed his team to be more aggressive, people familiar with the conversations said, encouraging them to devise plans that would apply higher rates of tariffs on a broader set of nations.

Exactly how that will happen remains unclear. In recent days, advisers have considered imposing global tariffs of up to 20% that would hit virtually all U.S. trading partners. Trump and his team for months promoted such a plan on the campaign trail, before the president publicly ditched it in favor of a so-called reciprocal tariff plan that would mean "what they [other nations] charge us, we charge them," as the president put it.

That reciprocal plan is also still on the table, an administration official said, adding that the president is inclined to tariff every nation that the U.S. runs a trade deficit with, and that he wants a "clean number" for each nation -- though no final decisions have been made.

Whatever the final plan, the official added, the president wants the policy to be "big and simple." That likely means the final action will be broader than earlier plans to prioritize levying tariffs on the U.S.'s biggest trading partners -- about 15% of the world's nations, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had labeled in media appearances as the "dirty 15."

In addition to the debate over the reciprocal tariff plan, the president's team is also considering unveiling a slate of new industry-specific tariffs that could hit critical minerals and products that contain them, among other industries, people familiar with the discussions said. It is still unclear if those duties will be unveiled April 2, but they are expected to be included in a trade policy review document that the U.S. trade representative's office is slated to deliver to Trump on Tuesday, the day before the announcement.

That reciprocal approach had been supported by National Economic Council chair Kevin Hassett as a way to rebalance U.S. trading relationships without dramatically increasing prices on U.S. consumers. But in recent days, the team has also debated the idea of virtually universal tariffs as a way to increase government revenue and offset tax cuts that Republicans are pushing through Congress.

Hassett said Sunday that the tariffs and a tax bill being crafted by congressional Republicans would buoy the U.S. economy.

"I think the naysayers will be proven wrong if they're a little bit nervous about the blips from this week to next," he said on Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures."

Trump has also publicly played down any concerns about higher prices, telling NBC News on Saturday that he didn't care if foreign automakers raise their prices for U.S. consumers in response to new tariffs.

"I couldn't care less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they're going to buy American cars," Trump said. "I hope they raise their prices, because if they do, people are gonna buy American-made cars. We have plenty."

In the NBC interview, the president also disputed that he had instructed U.S. automaker CEOS on a call in early March to not raise prices, which executives have said is inevitable in the face of tariffs. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump had warned executives that the White House would look unfavorably on such a move, leaving some of them rattled and worried they would face punishment if they increased prices.

"I never said that," Trump told NBC.

The president's team is considering imposing reciprocal or universal tariffs using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, according to people with knowledge of the plans. That is the same law that Trump used to levy tariffs on Canada and Mexico over their role in the fentanyl trade -- the first time it was ever used to impose tariffs. Some White House lawyers have cautioned against using it for such broad tariffs as Trump is now considering, saying it could increase the legal risk that the tariffs could be overturned in court.

Democrats are likely to seize on any broader use of the so-called IEEPA tariffs as an abuse of executive authority. They are already planning to force a vote on a resolution, led by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, to challenge the president's use of the law to impose tariffs on Canada. They plan to push for that resolution to come up for a vote on Tuesday, hoping to force Senate Republicans -- many of whom are quietly concerned about Trump's tariffs -- to make a difficult decision.

"The IEEPA emergency [authority] is really designed to be used against enemies, bad actors, etc.," Kaine said in an interview with the Journal. "Congress needs to take this power back. Trade powers are given to Congress in the Constitution."

New sectoral tariffs, meanwhile, would likely be imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which allows the president to levy tariffs on products deemed essential for national security. That is the provision Trump has used on recent tariffs targeting the automotive and steel sectors.

Americans' frustration with the cost of living helped send Trump to the White House, and his administration has sought to curb inflation. Automakers and parts manufacturers can absorb some of the added costs but not all, and they are likely to pass some increases on to consumers. On average, vehicle prices could rise 11% to 12% to offset duties, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a recent note.

A representative from one foreign automaker said the industry hasn't received instruction on how to pay the new tariffs and is still waiting for clarity on what their full impact will be. The representative said automakers have been whipsawed for weeks and that some are telling suppliers and dealers to stay cool, as there will likely be more ups and downs before the extent of the new tariffs is clear.

"We expected change with the new administration, but not this velocity and magnitude," said Glenn Stevens Jr., executive director of MichAuto, a business group that represents Michigan's auto sector.

Democrats argued that Trump's trade policies aren't helping Americans.

"Americans will pay more," Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.) said on "Fox News Sunday." He added, "They hired this president to bring down costs and you've got the market crashing because they think the tariffs are stupid."

Write to Gavin Bade at gavin.bade@wsj.com, Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com and Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 30, 2025 17:23 ET (21:23 GMT)

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