Tariffs

Trump's Mercurial, Constantly Changing Import Taxes Took American Businesses on a Wild Ride

There was little rhyme or reason to the president's "emergency" tariffs, which fluctuated wildly depending on his mood.

Jacob Sullum | 4.2.2026 6:00 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Phil Mistry/Zuma Press/Newscom/Midjourney)

As President Donald Trump told it, his "Liberation Day" tariffs aimed to correct "unfair trade practices by other countries." But there was little rhyme or reason to the widely varying tariff rates he announced on April 2, 2025, and a long line of subsequent revisions compounded the confusion and uncertainty, wreaking havoc with the plans of American businesses that rely on international trade.

Trump's executive order imposed a 10 percent "additional ad valorem duty" on all but a few trading partners, without regard to whether they had adopted policies or practices that unfairly impeded imports from the United States or artificially boosted exports. Imports from Singapore, for example, were subject to the 10 percent tax even though that country was collecting zero tariffs on "nearly 100%" of imports. Brazil likewise was hit by the 10 percent tax, even though it was running a trade surplus with the United States.

An annex to Trump's executive order listed higher, supposedly "reciprocal" tariffs on goods from 57 countries. Those tariffs were based on Trump's longstanding but economically fallacious belief that bilateral trade deficits are inherently unfair and problematic. When the value of goods imported from any given country exceeds the value of U.S. exports to that country, Trump assumed, the explanation must be "non-reciprocal trading practices."

The formula that generated Trump's country-specific tariffs, which ranged from 11........

© Reason.com