“In the final run-up to President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcement, aides were left with a difficult task,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“They were struggling to square the president’s seemingly contradictory goals for sweeping new duties. He wanted them to raise significant revenue for the government, as well as provide a durable signal for companies to invest in the U.S., according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Those goals would align with a permanent, across-the-board tariff. A universal approach would also help prevent companies from avoiding tariffs by shifting production to other countries—a key issue for Trump’s economic team.”
“But the president also liked the idea of reciprocity, the people said—or charging nations ‘what they charge us,’ as Trump has put it publicly. That pointed to individualized tariff rates for nations that could be calibrated according to their tariffs and other economic policies.”
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