US Tariffs Send Shockwaves Across Global Economy

President Donald Trump is imposing tariffs on US trading partners worldwide, his biggest assault yet on a global economic system he has long bemoaned as unfair.

- BLOOMBERG

Trump said Wednesday he will apply a minimum 10 percent tariff on all exporters to the US and slap additional duties on around 60 nations with the largest trade imbalances with the US. That includes substantially higher rates on some of the country's biggest trading partners, such as China—which now faces a 54 percent total tariff—the European Union and Vietnam.

"For years, hard-working American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense. But now it's our turn to prosper," Trump said during an event in the White House Rose Garden.

The higher "reciprocal" rates targeting nations the Trump administration labels the worst offenders are based on a government tally of the levies and non-tariff barriers those countries impose on US goods.

Under Trump's plan, those countries facing higher, customized rates will be hit with a levy equal to one-half of that calculated amount.