Government/Policy
April 5, 2025
Leibowitz: The blowback from Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs has only just begun
Written by Lewis Leibowitz
The new global economic order took clearer shape last Wednesday, when President Trump issued Executive Order 14257. The all-important annexes to the order were not released until Friday. Now we can finally dive into the details.
The outlines of the decision are widely known. A “baseline” tariff of 10% is imposed, by presidential fiat, on all imports from everywhere. Certain countries are hit with higher than 10% tariffs, including such predatory actors such as Lesotho (50%) and Cambodia (49%). An uninhabited island in the Antarctic was hit with 10% tariffs, although they don’t appear to make anything. Remarkably, three countries – Russia, Belarus, and North Korea – were not mentioned at all.
