WASHINGTON — President Trump brushed off a steep stock market plunge Thursday following the announcement of his “reciprocal” tariffs — saying he expected a reversal of the brutal impact of his new fees on most imported goods.
“I think it’s going very well. It was an operation like what a patient gets operated on, and it’s a big thing,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn.
“I said this would exactly be the way it is. We have six or $7 trillion coming in to our country, and we’ve never seen anything like it. The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
Trump added: “The world wants to see, is there any way they can make a deal? They’ve taken advantage of us for many, many years. We’ve been at the wrong side of the ball. And I’ll tell you what, I think it’s going to be unbelievable.”
Later on Air Force One, Trump said “there’s going to be a transition period.”
Asked for his message to companies set to see higher prices on their goods, Trump said: “All you have to do is build and make your product in the United States.”
Trump on Wednesday afternoon announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” levies, including a 10% tariff on most countries and higher rates on some key trading partners, a 20% tariff on the 27-nation European Union, 25% on South Korea and 24% on Japan.
The higher reciprocal rates are loosely correlated with the current US trade deficit with each country.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 3.3% as of mid-afternoon Thursday.
The new 10% baseline is roughly triple the average US tariff rate and will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Specific reciprocal duties will take effect after midnight on April 9.
An analysis by the Tax Foundation last year found that a blanket 10% tariff would increase federal revenues by an annual average of about $200 billion over the next decade — roughly one-tenth of the current federal deficit.
Trump, who has advocated for trade protectionism for decades as a way to shore up US manufacturing and force other countries to reform their import policies, has imposed many other tariffs.
On Thursday, Trump’s 25% tariff on vehicle imports took effect — impacting about 75% of cars sold in America — while foreign auto parts will be hit with the same percentage tariff on May 3. A 25% tariff on “non-USMCA compliant” Mexican and Canadian goods also remains in effect.
Additionally, the president has imposed a stiff 25% tariff on steel and aluminum without exceptions for major importers and a supplemental 25% tariff on China.
Trump teased plans to additionally tariff copper, computer chips, lumber and pharmaceuticals, though those goods were specifically carved out of the new country-specific reciprocal rates.