Friday Briefing

Trump ordered tariffs that could upend global trade

President Trump yesterday ordered his advisers to calculate new “reciprocal” tariffs that would affect nearly every country around the world. India, Japan and the E.U. could be hit the hardest.

The new tariffs, which could go into effect on or after April 2, would reflect other countries’ tariffs, taxes, subsidies and other policies that affect their trade with the U.S. He made it clear that his ultimate goal was to force companies to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

“If you build here, you’ll have no tariffs whatsoever,” Trump said at the Oval Office.

Hours later, Trump met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. In comments at a news conference, Trump said the U.S. would increase military sales to India by “many billions” of dollars, and Modi announced more collaboration with the U.S. on defense cooperation, as well as the development of semiconductors, quantum technology and A.I.

Context: For decades, U.S. tariff levels have been decided in negotiations at international bodies like the W.T.O. Trump wants to effectively scrap that system in favor of one determined solely by U.S. officials and based on their own criteria.

Quotable: “These tariff proposals amount to a declaration of an all-out trade war against practically all major U.S. trading partners,” said Eswar Prasad, a trade policy professor at Cornell University. “It is stunning and disappointing to see the country that had been the leading proponent of free trade now engaged in a direct assault on the rules and principles underlying that system.”