President to reveal tariff plan after stock market closes Wednesday, and it may take effect immediately

The Trump administration is set to announce an expansion of tariffs Wednesday that could increase the cost of refrigerators, appliances, toys, textiles and other items.

The Trump administration has been promising since mid-February that it will roll out new tariffs on April 2 — and the big unveil is almost here.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to make remarks about his new taxes on imported products around 4 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday in the White House’s Rose Garden. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that her understanding is the new tariffs will take effect immediately.

For weeks, the rollout was expected to feature “reciprocal tariffs” for other countries’ products, with Trump and other administration officials often saying something along the lines of, “Whatever they charge us, we’ll charge them.” Officials also have said the reciprocal tariffs would take into account other nations’ nontariff trade barriers — and potentially focus on 10 to 15 trading partners that have significant barriers and account for the bulk of the U.S. trade deficit.

But multiple published reports have said Trump in recent days was considering a 20% tariff for virtually all U.S. trading partners or most imports. That would not be a reciprocal approach, but rather a return to the universal tariff that Trump promised during his 2024 presidential campaign.

There’s also a third option, which would be an across-the-board tariff on a set of countries that likely would not be as high as 20%, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

“April 2, 2025, will go down as one of the most important days in modern American history,” Leavitt said during Tuesday’s White House press briefing. Starting Wednesday, the days of America “being ripped off are over,” she added. Leavitt, Trump and other administration officials have referred to Wednesday as “liberation day.”

A former Biden administration official, Alex Jacquez, blasted Trump ahead of Wednesday’s rollout. People think Trump is not focusing enough “on reducing the cost of living and on the economy, and they’re very worried about what this chaotic and unpredictable trade policy is going to mean for their pocketbooks and for their jobs,” said Jacquez, who was a special assistant for the Biden administration’s National Economic Council and now is chief of advocacy and policy at Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive think tank.

Besides the new tariffs, the Trump administration must decide on whether to continue to exempt some Canadian and Mexican products from the tariffs on those two U.S. neighbors that went into effect a month ago. In early March, administration officials said automobiles and other products that are compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will be exempt until this Wednesday.

In addition, so-called secondary tariffs of 25% on countries that purchase crude oil from Venezuela are slated to take effect Wednesday.

Trump’s new 25% tariff on cars not made in the U.S. is due to take effect Thursday, and his 25% levy on some auto parts is slated to take effect no later than May 3.

There are new 20% taxes on Chinese imports already in place, along with new 25% duties in effect on steel and aluminum imports.

The S&P 500 stock index closed higher Tuesday but it’s down 8% from a record close achieved in mid-February.