President Trump reset U.S. trade policy on Wednesday by announcing a 10-percent general tariff on all imports to the U.S. with the exception of Canada and Mexico, along with targeted tariffs on dozens of additional countries.

The move makes good on one of the central promises of Trump’s presidential campaign and represents a course-correction in U.S. trade posture that Trump started during his first term.

Trump’s general tariff follows two months of stop-and-start tariff announcements from the new administration and contains many shades of gray, including new ways of calculating costs that have left some economists scratching their heads.

“Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years, but it’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said during a speech in the White House Rose Garden.

Businesses and many trade groups reacted with harsh criticism, and futures markets took a dive on the announcements, which took place after markets closed.

Some labor groups and others that have consistently criticized free-trade policies as harming U.S. manufacturers and labor unions reacted positively.

Here are five takeaways from Trump’s tariff announcement.

Trump shatters a century of trade policy in one day

After months of teasing, imposing and then walking back new tariffs, Trump pitched his new import tax regime as a fundamental shift in U.S. economic and foreign policy.

Since World War II and especially over the last few decades, the U.S. has pursued free trade policies that have mostly lowered barriers to international commerce and made it easier for companies to produce and sell goods across international borders.

A major part of that agenda has been lowering tariffs and........

© The Hill