Trump makes his announcement on ‘Liberation Day’

U.S. flags were draped along the White House colonnade for a red-white-and-blue backdrop when Trump announced his tariffs on Wednesday, April 2.

“My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day,” he said. The president held up a poster listing the tariffs that he would slap on each country — 32% for Thailand, 49% for Cambodia, 26% for India, and on and on. People around the world squinted to decipher the numbers that would reset critical economic relationships.

The day after the announcement, Trump jetted to Florida for the weekend.

“The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” he promised while leaving the White House, the whirring rotors of Marine One sometimes overpowering his voice.

But the market was crashing, posting its biggest single-day loss since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic five years earlier. And around the country and the world, the fallout spread over the weekend.

Fulcrum Coffee Roasters in Seattle braced for rising costs for beans from Southeast Asia and espresso machines from Italy. Stellantis, the automaker behind brands like Jeep and Ram, announced it would pause production at plants in Mexico and Canada, leading to temporary layoffs at other facilities in Indiana and Michigan, a reminder of how interconnected vehicle supply chains have become.

The Dutch division of Tata Steel said it would cut 1,600 employees, about a fifth of its workforce. Ireland Prime Minister Michael Martin said “there is no way to sugar coat” the situation as business with the U.S. started tapering off.