Trump announces 10% tariffs on agricultural products from April and a 3% GDP drop is expected

“To the great farmers of the United States: get ready to start producing a large amount of agricultural products that will be sold INSIDE the United States. Tariffs will apply to foreign products on April 2. Have fun!” President Donald Trump wrote this Monday on his Truth social network.

The president did not specify which products will be affected or whether there will be exceptions. The U.S. president has repeatedly called tariffs “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and has used them as a negotiating tool both in his first term (2017-2021) and in the current one, to obtain concessions on trade, migration, and security.

Starting this Tuesday, the U.S. began applying a 25% tariff on exports from Mexico and Canada and another 10% on goods that China exports to the U.S., opening the door to a large-scale cross-border trade conflict (see Asia). Meanwhile, Canada announced yesterday that it would respond in kind, with 25% tariffs on U.S. products worth US$155 billion.

“The Atlanta Fed projects a sharp quarterly GDP drop in the U.S. It went from projecting 4% growth to a 2.8% decline in less than a month. Trump’s anti-liberal trade policies are bearing fruit,” wrote economist Alejandro Sabo on his X account.