The president has floated targeting all countries — not just the ‘dirty 15’

Canada’s government has placed antitariff billboards in numerous American cities, including this one shown in Miramar, Fla.

President Donald Trump has described this coming Wednesday as “Liberation Day” as he touts the new taxes on imported goods that his administration plans to unveil on that day.

The extent of these tariffs appears in flux at the moment, as multiple published reports say Trump in recent days has pushed his team to take a more aggressive approach than administration officials had been outlining a week or two ago.

Here’s what it’s looking like currently for the tariff rollout.

All countries may get hit — not just 15

Trump’s own comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night provided a mixed message. When asked about reports of higher-than-expected tariffs on other countries’ products, the president sounded somewhat conciliatory as he said his team is “going to be much nicer than they were to us,” referring to U.S. trading partners.

But Trump was more aggressive when he was asked about whether the tariffs would focus on just 10 or 15 nations — an approach that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and top economic adviser Kevin Hassett have pushed in Fox Business Network interviews.

“Who told you 10 or 15? You might have heard it, but you didn’t hear it from me,” the president said. “You’d start with all countries. So let’s see what happens.”

The main U.S. stock indexes traded mostly higher Monday, following an early session selloff blamed at least in part on fears that Trump’s tariffs could be more sweeping than anticipated. Last week,stocks started off with gains— boosted by reports at that time that the levies would be more targeted, potentially only hitting what Bessent has dubbed the “dirty 15” trading partners.

Hassett said on Sunday morning that Trump will decide how many countries will be impacted. He told Fox News: “I can’t give you any forward-looking guidance on what’s going to happen this week. The president has got a heck of a lot of analysis before him, and he’s going to make the right choice, I’m sure.”

Trump said Monday night that he had decided on a tariff plan, but would not reveal the details yet, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Universal tariff in focus again

There could be a 20% tariff for virtually all U.S. trading partners, according to a Wall Street Journal report over the weekend.

A 20% universal tariff would represent a return to an approach that Trump advocated for during the 2024 White House race, when he called for taxes of 10% to 20% on all imports. It would be a break from the plan for “reciprocal tariffs” on April 2 that the president and other administration officials have promised since mid-February. Regarding this plan, Trump often has said: “Whatever they charge us, we’ll charge them.”

With the reciprocal tariffs, there have been expectations of individualized rates for countries, but economists and trade experts have emphasized that a universal tariff would be a different type of trade action.

“If they go with the 20% across-the-board tariffs, can we all agree not to call it reciprocal?” said Erica York, an economist and vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, in a social-media post.

Trump adviser claims $6 trillion in revenue

Another Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, maintained Sunday that Trump’s new 25% tax on imported cars and some imported auto parts will provide $100 billion in revenue to the U.S. federal government, while upcoming tariffs will bring in far more.

“In addition, the other tariffs are going to raise about $600 billion a year — about $6 trillion over a 10-year period,” Navarro told Fox News.

Those estimates appear to come from charging a 20% duty on roughly $3 trillion in annual U.S. imports, which could provide $600 billion annually or $6 trillion over a decade.

But economists point out that if new tariffs cause the increased U.S. manufacturing that the Trump administration has promised, there would be lower imports and lower tariff revenue over time.

Plus, tariffs would make imported products more expensive, so Americans likely would buy fewer of them. Economists note other problems with Navarro’s estimates as well.

Getting $6 trillion in revenue from new taxes on imports would be “the largest peacetime tax increase in America[’s] history outside of World War II,” said Jessica Riedl, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow focused on budget, tax and economic policy, in a social-media post.

What tariffs are in place already?

Ahead of Wednesday’s rollout of new tariffs, the Trump administration has unveiled other taxes on imported products that already have taken effect.

Tariffs of 25% on Canadian and Mexican imports — including a lower 10% tariff for Canadian energy products — went into effect in early March. These levies ended up smaller than initially planned, but they were not entirely eliminated. 

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

Trump also has said he will impose so-called secondary tariffs of 25% on countries that purchase crude oil from Venezuela, saying he’ll make that among Wednesday’s moves.

His 25% tariff on cars not made in the U.S. is due to start Thursday, while the 25% levy on some auto parts is slated to take effect no later than May 3.