You've been liberated from feeling good about your stock portfolio and meeting your household budget! It's Liberation Day, can't you feel it?
Or at least that's what President Donald Trump wants you to believe. In reality, today is going to be a terrible bloodbath. Globally, markets have tumbled. Domestically, they will probably tank. I hope you didn't have any big purchases you wanted to make—like, ever—because shopping is over for now.
Yesterday evening, the president imposed universal tariffs that he calls reciprocal, supposedly based on the amount each country tariffs our imports. Vietnamese imports will now be hit with a 46 percent tariff. E.U. goods face a 20 percent one, Japanese goods a 24 percent one, and Chinese imports a 34 percent one—but it's looking like that's on top of the previous 20 percent tariff, so it's 54 percent total. (The White House press secretary has confirmed this.) The baseline 10 percent tariffs go into effect Saturday, and all higher tariffs go into effect April 9. Trump has so far made exceptions for a few categories of product—semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and lumber—but that's not because he wants them to remain exempt; it's because he's still in the process of drafting up his plan for how those goods ought to be taxed. Full list here.
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