Trump unveils tariffs in retaliation for US being ‘looted, pillaged, raped’ by other nations

President Donald Trump claimed that the US has been ‘looted, pillaged, raped’ by other countries while unveiling new tariffs under a plan he claims will ‘Make America Wealthy Again’.

Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs during an event at the Rose Garden of the White House late afternoon on Wednesday, which he deemed ‘Liberation Day’.

‘My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day,’ he said.

‘We’ve been waiting for a long time. April 2nd, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed and the day that we began to make America wealthy again.’

The president said that ‘for decades our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike’.

He said American steel and automobile workers, farmers and skilled craftsman have ‘suffered bravely’ and watched as ‘foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful America dream’.

Trump called the announcement ‘our declaration of economic independence’.

‘For years, hardworking American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense,’ he said.

‘But now it’s our turn to prosper.’

The tariff percentages are generally much higher than what the US has imposed since the 1990s.

Trump cast his new policy as ‘kind reciprocal’ tariffs and said he could have imposed much higher levies on trading partners. The US will charge ‘approximately half’ of what other countries are currently charging America, he said.

Existing trade imbalances with other nations are a ‘national security risk’ to America, the president said. He brought up the US’s 2.5% tariff on foreign manufactured vehicles and said he will place a 25% tariff on all automobiles imported into the country beginning at midnight.

The president held up a large chart titled ‘Reciprocal Tariffs’ laying out dozens of countries and the European Union. It included ‘tariffs charged to the USA’ and the ‘USA discounted reciprocal tariffs’ alongside it.

For example, according to the Trump administration, the EU charges the US 39% tariffs and the US will impose 20% reciprocal tariffs.

When it came to the UK, Trump said of the tariffs: ‘10% and we’ll go 10%, same thing.’

The 10%, though appearing comparably low, comes despite the US running a trade surplus with the UK.

Trump said that countries not listed in the charge will face a minimum baseline tariff of 10% ‘to prevent cheating… we’re going to have a minimum of cheating’.

He said the tariffs could be zeroed out only if foreign countries relocate their facilities to America.

After putting the tariffs chart down, Trump took out a red MAGA hat and offered it first to the audience and then to automobile workers who were invited to the event.

‘I’m not giving it to the Cabinet, I’m giving it to the auto workers,’ he said. ‘Thank you, fellas. They deserve it more than our Cabinet. Our Cabinet has plenty of hats.’

Trump said the tariffs will usher in a ‘golden age’ for the US and that ‘jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country’.

‘We can be so much wealthier than any other country, it’s unbelievable,’ Trump said.

‘We’re going to take care of our people first, and I’m sorry to say that.’

There were little details known on Trump’s tariff plans before he revealed them, but experts issued warnings of their impacts abroad and domestically.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier this week said that the tariffs will affect almost all of the US’s trading partners and will go into effect ‘immediately’.

She added that the tariffs will ‘improve American competitiveness in every area of industry, reduce our massive trade deficits, and ultimately protect our economic and national security’.

In recent weeks, Trump moved forward with tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico that have left those countries poised for trade wars. The US has imposed 25% tariffs on automobile imports.

On Wednesday, cargo trucks queued at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry between California and Tijuana, Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City said she would announce a program to strengthen her country’s response to Trump’s new tariffs.

The stock market closed on a high note on Wednesday. Trump deliberately waited until after the market closed in order to start his announcement.

Trump closed his roughly 45-minute speech by saying, ‘I think you’re going to remember today’.

He walked to a small desk at the garden and signed two executive orders making the new tariffs official.

Economists issued mixed reactions to Trump’s tariff policy.

Dan Ives, who is Wedbush Securities managing director and global head of technology research, told the New York Post that ‘it’s worse than the worst case scenario’ and to ‘expect a bloodbath in terms of the market reaction because it’s much worse than expected’.

He pointed out levies on Asia potentially being the most damaging to Americans.

‘The China and the Taiwan tariffs are the backbreakers and that will change the pricing of electronics and consumer goods in the US for years to come,’ he said.

But Macquarie Group economist and strategist Thierry Wizman told the Post, ‘I do not think the markets are going to react that terribly tomorrow. This is not the worst-case scenario, which would have been a 20% global tariff across the board.’

But Wizman also said that Americans will feel some pain, including inflation.

‘I know that in Trump’s mindset, he doesn’t think the tariffs will cause inflation,’ he said. ‘But Main Street has already concluded this will cause inflation.’

A fact sheet sent out by the White House shortly after the event wrapped up stated that Trump’s action ‘simply asks other countries to treat us like we treat them. It’s the Golden Rule for Our Golden Age’.

‘The United States will no longer put itself last on matters of international trade in exchange for empty promises,’ states the sheet.

‘Reciprocal tariffs are a big part of why Americans voted for President Trump—it was a cornerstone of his campaign from the start.’

Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.