Understanding Trump’s Tariff Strategies as ‘Liberation Day’ Approaches

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

News, Daily News

4 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On April 2nd, a new slate of reciprocal U.S. tariffs are expected to take effect. President Trump has championed tariffs, saying they are needed in order to make things fair, to reduce the trade deficit and to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. But will his strategies work? Mary E. Lovely, of the Peter son Institute for International Economics, discusses the reasons behind and effectiveness of previous strategies on tariffs to explain how Trump's newest plans may pan out. Alex Ossola hosts. Further Reading Why Trump’s Tariff Strategy Is Getting Riskier, According to Economists How Trump’s Trade War Is Playing Out At Breakneck Speed Trump Previews Reciprocal Tariff Action Set for April 2 Trump’s Tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China: Here’s Where Things Stand Trump’s Tariff Onslaught Is Coming Faster Than His Team Can Carry It Out Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello Blue Skies. Hello moving onwards and upwards. Hello, taking control of your money. Say hello to tax-free investing. Open a Stocks and Shares ICER and act by the 5th of April to get 100 to 3,000 pounds cashback. Cargreaves lands down. Hello Life. Register and add or transfer 10,000 pounds plus. You may get back
0:24.5	less than you invest and tax benefits vary. For terms and conditions, see hl.com.uk.uk-fork-slash-Isa.
0:31.4	Hey, what's news listeners. It's Sunday, March 30th. I'm Alex Oslo for the Wall Street Journal.
0:37.0	This is What's News Sunday,
0:38.4	the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news by reaching
0:42.4	out to our colleagues across the newsroom to help explain what's happening in our world. This
0:46.9	week, we're talking tariffs. We're just a few days away from April 2nd, or Liberation Day,
0:52.5	as President Trump has called it, when he plans to lay out a slate
0:55.5	of reciprocal tariffs. Today, we're digging into how tariffs have been used in the past and whether
1:00.8	they achieved their goals. It's no secret that President Trump loves tariffs.
1:07.4	I always say tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.
1:12.0	Trump's reasons for imposing tariffs go beyond pure emotion.
1:15.9	He considers them to be fair, arguing that the U.S. needs tariffs to match the duties and trade barriers that other countries impose on American products.
1:23.8	The president has said that he wants tariffs in order to reduce the trade deficit, that is,
1:28.5	to close the gap between how much the U.S. imports and exports.
1:32.5	According to the most recent data available, in January, the U.S. reached a new record for
1:37.3	importing more goods than at exports.
1:39.7	And he has said that tariffs will boost domestic manufacturing, bringing jobs producing commodities
1:44.7	like steel and goods like cell phones back to the U.S. But is that how tariffs have worked in the
1:50.2	past? Mary E. Lovely, a senior fellow at nonprofit nonpartisan think tank, the Peterson
1:55.6	Institute for International Economics, joins me now to discuss. Mary, I want to start with this idea of reciprocal
2:02.3	tariffs. Trump has said that his tariff plans are responding to those placed on the U.S. by other
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 2 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.