Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs Exempt Russia, Put Ukraine and Poorer Nations at Risk
Global Anger Mounts as China and Others Vow Retaliation — Even Remote Penguin Island Not Spared in Tariff Blitz
My hot take comment: Russia was absent from Trump’s list of countries facing new tariffs, yet Ukraine—an ally fighting for survival—was slapped with a 10% levy, according to a White House fact sheet. Reuters reports that Trump is frustrated with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for allegedly delaying a rare earth minerals deal. The pattern of Trump’s sanctions is revealing. This appears to be economic blackmail, pressuring Zelensky to accept a lopsided minerals deal—one many argue would reduce Ukraine to an economic colony—after falsely accusing him of stalling negotiations. How should Kyiv respond, given its trade deficit with Washington? Retaliatory tariffs on U.S. cars, chemicals, and plastics would be a logical start. A consumer boycott of U.S. brands, as seen in Canada, could send a strong signal—skip Coke and Pepsi in favor of healthier Ukrainian alternatives. McDonald’s, which made $21.3 million in profits in Ukraine in the first half of 2024, could also feel the pressure. Canadian provinces’ actions suggest another avenue - blacklisting U.S. firms from consulting and services contracts. Kyiv should follow suit, reinforcing that Ukraine is open for business—but not at any cost. The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine should protest this unjust tariff hike. In 2024, U.S. goods exports to Ukraine totalled $1.7 billion, while imports stood at $1.2 billion—giving the U.S. a $497 million trade surplus. Slapping Ukraine with tariffs amid an existential war is indefensible.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced the most sweeping tariffs of his administration so far, including levies that exceed 30% on Asian economies such as China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand. The tariffs will be two-tiered. First, there will be a 10% baseline tariff on all countries. A higher reciprocal tariff will be charged on roughly 60 countries -- those with which the U.S. has the largest trade deficits. For instance, China's total tariffs against the U.S. were calculated to be 67%, so the new tariffs would be half that at 34%. In a media event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Trump declared it to be "Liberation Day in America," and held up a chart with the reciprocal tariffs, including 32% on Taiwan, 24% on Japan and 25% on South Korea. Trump said Wednesday would be remembered as "the day American industry was reborn, the day America's destiny was reclaimed and the day we began to make America wealthy again." For decades, the U.S. has been plundered by friend and foe alike, he said. "Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream," he said. The baseline tariffs go into effect at 12:01 a.m. EDT on Saturday, while the higher reciprocal tariffs go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on April 9. Many on the list were Asian economies, including Cambodia and Vietnam, which were slapped 49% and 46%, respectively - Nikkei Asia
Ukraine is open for business - but not at any cost. Slapping Ukraine with tariffs amid an existential war is indefensible.
China’s Ministry of Commerce urged the U.S. to “immediately cancel” its unilateral tariff measures and vowed to take “resolute counter-measures” to safeguard its own rights and interests. The Chinese official described the Trump administration’s decision to impose reciprocal tariffs as a “typical unilateral bullying practice,” adding that many countries have expressed “strong dissatisfaction and clear opposition.” The tariff shock for China would be “significantly higher and more pervasive” than in trade war 1.0, said Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley - CNBC Asia
Stock markets in London, Paris and Berlin dropped sharply at the open on Thursday after US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff announcements.
The FTSE 100 and the Cac 40 were down around 1.4% and 1.7%, but Germany's Dax index took the biggest hit, falling more than 2%., the BBC reported. In Asia, major stock indexes fell in morning trading, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng down by 1.2%. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was down by 2.9%, the Kospi in South Korea down by 1.7%, and Australia's ASX 200 was around 1.2% lower.
Countries in the export-driven region of Southeast Asia have been hit with particularly high tariffs in the global round of levies announced by US President Donald Trump. Six of the 10 Southeast Asian countries listed – including Thailand – had tariff levels of between 32% to 49%. Global and Chinese manufacturers had moved production to countries such as Vietnam and Thailand from China to avoid the heavy tariffs Trump slapped on Beijing during his first term in office - Bangkok Post
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was 'prepared to respond' to the US president's new 20% levy on the bloc. She said the world will “massively suffer” from the tariffs, reported the FT. While the BBC reported that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer tells business chiefs in Downing Street that "clearly there will be an economic impact" from Trump's tariffs - but the government will respond with "cool and calm heads".
The sweeping tariffs extend to countries and territories across the world — including the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean. The remote UNESCO World Heritage-listed Australian territory, which features a mostly barren landscape, was included in the list of baseline 10% taxes on U.S. imports, along with mainland Australia. The Heard and McDonald Islands were included because they are Australian territory, according to a White House official. This region that features the only volcanically active subantarctic islands is "teeming" with colonies of seals, penguins and other birds, per an Australian Antarctic Program post. Humans need a permit to visit the Heard and McDonald Islands, which are more than 2,000 miles southwest of Perth, Western Australia. It takes two weeks to sail from the Australian mainland. Another region with no permanent human population on Trump's list is the volcanic island of Jan Mayen in the Arctic Ocean. It's collectively designated with Svalbard, an archipelago with polar bears and a small human population some 580 miles north of north of Tromsø, Norway.
Initial reactions from the U.S. business sector were mixed. Gary Shapiro, CEO and vice chair of the Consumer Technology Association, said he was concerned the sweeping tariffs will result in "massive tax hikes on Americans that will drive inflation, kill jobs on Main Street, and may cause a recession for the U.S. economy." He pointed out that "this will not be a golden age -- but a return to the global economic catastrophe of the Smoot-Hawley tariffs of the 1930s that will disproportionately hurt low-income and hardworking Americans." David French, executive vice president of government relations for National Retail Federation, echoed those concerns. "More tariffs equal more anxiety and uncertainty for American businesses and consumers. While leaders in Washington may not care about higher prices, hardworking American families do," he said. "Even more so, the immediate implementation of these tariffs is a massive undertaking and requires both advance notice and substantial preparation by the millions of U.S. businesses that will be directly impacted," French added - Nikkei Asia
The Trump administration notably did not include Russia on an expansive list of countries that will face major new tariffs, Reuters noted. Ukraine was slapped with a 10% levy, according to a fact sheet released by the White House. Trump has expressed frustration with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who he said was trying to renegotiate a minerals deal.
Moldova, a neighbour and ally of Ukraine wasn’t spared either. According to The Moldova Matters newsletter, the US claimed that Moldova levies 61% tariffs on US goods and therefore the US will now levy 31% on Moldova. “For a country already in a recession and struggling to get the economy moving under the shadow of the War in Ukraine, the timing is not great,” the newsletter said.
Senior EU diplomat: "The US has Brexited the world"
Democratic senators sent a letter to the Trump administration on Wednesday criticizing what they called the paltry U.S. aid response to the earthquake in Myanmar, where China and Russia have sent rescue and relief teams. The six senators said in the letter that the United States appeared to be failing the first test of its ability to respond to a humanitarian crisis in the wake of the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to foreign aid and dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, the main aid agency. “We are deeply concerned that the administration’s response is failing to meet both our moral and strategic objectives — sending a signal to countries around the world that our adversaries are more reliable and trustworthy than the United States,” the senators wrote. The United States did not send any specialist aid teams to Myanmar after the earthquake hit on Friday. More than 2,700 people have died as buildings there and in neighboring Thailand collapsed, according to the ruling authoritarian military leaders of Myanmar. The junta asked other nations for help. China, Russia and India sent teams and supplies, as did Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. As of this past weekend, the United States had not even managed to get a three-person assessment team into the country, The New York Times reported on Sunday - NYT
Russian President Vladimir Putin's investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev met with U.S. officials in Washington on Wednesday as the Trump administration continues to press Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said. Dmitriev, a Stanford-educated former Goldman Sachs investment banker, is one of the most U.S.-savvy members of Russia's elite, with close relations to some key members of the Trump team. He is the highest-ranking Russian official to travel to the U.S. on state business since Russia's 2022 expanded invasion of Ukraine. Dmitriev may be key in repairing relations that were, until Trump's January inauguration, the worst between Moscow and Washington since the most dangerous junctures of the Cold War - Reuters
The Trump administration’s de-funding of Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other US taxpayer-funded overseas broadcast networks will, if successful, will only benefit the autocrats and serve as a huge blow to freedom of expression worldwide - experts said at panel last night at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand here in Bangkok. Moreover, dozens of journalists currently employed by these services risk having their visas cancelled and being forced to return to their home countries where some are on wanted lists. There was also support voiced for resources for the growing number of exiled journalists who’ve been left out of the media ecosystem. People in Myanmar, who are reeling from the powerful earthquake, will suffer from the cancellation of Burmese-language services of VOA, RFE. Referring to the cutting of the services, Tommy Walker, FCCT board member, and Bangkok-based reporter for VOA said: “It’s a sad loss but hopefully only a temporary loss.” Aside from Walker, the panel included: Steve Herman, chief national correspondent, Voice of America, and board member, US National Press Club; Rohit Mahajan, chief communications officer, Radio Free Asia; and, Antoine Bernard, director of advocacy and assistance, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF). Watch the entire panel here
Context: In what has already been dubbed “Bloody Saturday”, the Trump administration ordered the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to cut off funds to the Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and other US-supported media on March 15. VOA immediately placed on indefinite leave over 1,300 journalists and staff and ceased broadcasting for the first time in its 83-year history. RFA, which receives a separate congressional appropriation, had to furlough at least 75% of its journalists and staff since its funds are disbursed through the AGM, which has refused to make transfers to continue operations. Along with other broadcasters focused on Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Cuba, the shuttered media reached more than 420 million people in 63 languages and over 100 countries each week. There will be a huge negative impact on regional coverage in mainland Southeast Asia. RFA reporters cover in their own languages and in English many of Thailand’s neighbors, including Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and China. Not surprisingly, authoritarians across Asia and the world are cheering the shutdowns. China’s state media called VOA “a dirty rag” and its foreign ministry described it as a “lie factory”. Former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cheered the cut of RFA, calling it “fake news”. The US National Press Club meanwhile said the actions "undermine America's long-standing commitment to a free and independent press". Issues of media freedom, coverage of hard-to-reach stories, US government funding and editorial independence all swirl in the debate about the cuts. VOA journalists, and the leadership of RFA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, have all filed lawsuits against the US government and USAGM to reverse these actions and keep the broadcasters open, but it is still early days in the courts - FCCT
The journals…
