When asked about what Wednesday’s sweeping tariffs set to go into effect on Wednesday would look like, Trump said that Americans would “see in two days.”
Though Trump was light on specifics, he seemed to indicate that the tariffs might be lower than those imposed by other countries on the U.S.
“So, whatever they charge us, we charge them. But we’re being nicer than they were,” he said. “We have a lot of countries, friend and foe. I always say friend and foe, but the friend in many cases is worse than the foe. They took advantage of us. And, we are going to be very nice by comparison to what they were. The numbers will be lower than what they’ve been charging us, and in some cases, maybe substantially lower.”
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One as he departs for Florida, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, March 28, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
When asked whether any countries might be exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, Trump said “it depends,” and seemed to indicate he wouldn’t target countries that had smaller trade deficits with the U.S.
Asked by ABC News’ Karen Travers if he’s heard any concerns from automakers about the pending tariffs, especially after a meeting today with the chairman of Stellantis, Trump said no.
“Well, I gave them a big break for a month. I didn’t charge them anything, you know, for a big month, for that first month, and they brought a lot of material into this country, because they could bring it in with that tariff,” Trump said.
Travers also pressed Trump on news that China, South Korea and Japan are working together to respond to U.S. tariffs, asking if he was concerned that the tariffs would push allies closer to China. Trump said he was not aware of that news, but did brush off the concerns.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
