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What you need to know
- President Donald Trump signed an aggressive and far-reaching "reciprocal tariff" policy at the White House.
- Trump said his plan will set a 10% baseline tariff across the board.
- The plan imposes steep tariff rates on many countries, including 34% on China, 20% on the European Union, 46% on Vietnam and 32% on Taiwan.
- Economists and U.S. trade partners are raising questions about how the White House calculated the tariff rates it claimed other countries "charge" the United States.
- Stocks were poised to open down sharply Thursday morning.
CNBC's reporters are covering the tariffs and their impact, live all day on air and online from our bureaus in Washington; London; Singapore; San Francisco; and Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
Ford offers customers employee pricing amid tariff fears
The Ford Motor Company Windsor Engine Plant is shown on April 1, 2025 in Windsor, Canada.
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Citing a "changing economy" and its position as the the No. 1 U.S. producer of cars and trucks, Ford said it's putting most of its vehicles on sale.
The automaker is offering employee pricing to all U.S. customers from April 3 to June 2.
The promotion excludes the some large vehicles like the Ford Raptor, the 2025 Expedition and Navigator SUVs and Super Duty trucks.
"We understand that these are uncertain times for many Americans," the company said in a statement. "We have the retail inventory to do this and a lot of choice for customers that need a vehicle."
U.S. auto sales in the first quarter came in higher than expected as consumers flocked to buy cars ahead of auto tariffs taking effect, which many expect will lead to higher vehicle prices.
— Michele Luhn
Here's the formula the Trump administration said it used to calculate tariff rates
A screenshot from the website of the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
The White House Wednesday listed tariff rates for 180 countries that, in most cases, were roughly half of what the Trump administration claims each country has "charged" the U.S.
It didn't take long for market observers to try and reverse engineer the formula — to confusing results.
Many observers said the U.S. appeared to have divided the trade deficit by imports from a given country to arrive at tariff rates for individual countries.
Such methodology doesn't necessarily align with the conventional approach to calculate tariffs and would imply the U.S. would have only looked at the trade deficit in goods and ignored trade in services.
The U.S. also appeared to have applied a 10% levy for regions where it is running a trade surplus.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has since laid out its approach, including a formula, on its website which appeared somewhat similar to the online chatter, barring a few differences.
— Neelabh Chaturvedi, Asriel Chua
Trump declares victory with new tariffs: 'THE PATIENT LIVED'
Trump quickly declared his "reciprocal" tariff rollout a success.
"THE OPERATION IS OVER!" Trump wrote in an all-caps Truth Social post.
"THE PATIENT LIVED, AND IS HEALING. THE PROGNOSIS IS THAT THE PATIENT WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!"
The new tariffs have not yet taken effect.
— Kevin Breuninger
What investors need to know about Trump’s 25% auto tariffs
New vehicles are parked on the pier at the Mercedes Benz Vehicle Preparation Center (VPC) in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 31, 2025.
Jim Watson | Afp | Getty Images
Trump's 25% auto tariffs are in effect, but the impacts of the new levies could take years to unfold.
The tariffs are on any vehicles imported into the U.S., but even if final assembly takes place domestically, autos are made up of thousands of parts that are sourced from all around the world.
That means the industry is watching and waiting to see what happens with potential upcoming tariffs on auto parts.
In the near term, auto industry investors should expect continued volatility in automaker and supplier stocks, according to Wall Street analysts.
Read more about how the auto tariffs will affect individual vehicles and automakers here.
— Michele Luhn
English (US)