On Wednesday, United States President Donald Trump imposed sweeping reciprocal tariffs on the US’s trading partners.

The day was termed “Liberation Day” by Trump, who signed an executive order imposing a flat 10 percent tariff on almost all nations and then additional tariffs on those countries that the US accuses of charging higher levies on American goods.

The levies sent shock waves through global markets and prompted criticism from world leaders. China and the European Union have already responded with retaliatory measures, signalling the risk of a global trade war.

China’s Ministry of Commerce called on Washington to cancel the tariffs. “There is no winner in a trade war, and there is no way out for protectionism,” the ministry said in a statement.

The 10 percent flat tariffs come into force on April 5, while the other tariffs will come into effect on April 9.

What are the new tariffs announced?

Trump has targeted roughly 60 countries with customised reciprocal tariffs. These are countries that have been singled out as ones that charge higher levies on US goods. The steeper rates apply to both major US trading partners and smaller economies – and allies and rivals alike.

China has been hit with a 54 percent tariff, including 20 percent levies from earlier; Lesotho faces a 50 percent tariff; Cambodia 49 percent; and neighbouring Vietnam 46 percent.

“The hike in tariffs was more aggressive than expected,” Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at Dutch bank ING, told Al Jazeera.

“Many were expecting a range of 10-20 percent tariffs. This sort of aggressive move will probably risk some retaliation from the bigger players, though smaller countries could choose to try and negotiate for a lower rate.”

The EU has also been hit with a 20 percent tariff.

Baseline tariffs of 10 percent have been applied to all imports coming to the US. Some countries facing 10 percent levies are the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.

There will be no additional tariffs on Canada and Mexico – both countries are already subject to 25 percent tariffs, except for products covered by a free trade deal with the US.

Explore the table below to see which countries have been hit the least and most.

Which countries export the most to the US?

In 2024, Mexico exported $505.9bn of goods to the US, according to the US International Trade Administration.

This was followed by China, which exported $438.9bn; Canada, $412.7bn; Germany $160.4bn; and Japan $148.2bn.

Which countries will be most affected?

While Trump did not impose extra tariffs on Canada or Mexico, these countries are the most likely to be affected by US levies, given the high percentage of exports that go to the US.

In 2023, 77.6 percent of Canada’s total exports went to the US, according to data from the United Nations Comtrade. Mexico’s total exports to the US were 79.6 percent.

By contrast, while the US is the EU’s largest export destination, the bloc has many other countries that buy its products: In 2023, the US accounted for less than 20 percent of the EU’s exports, according to Comtrade.

Similarly, while a heavy tariff is being applied to Chinese products, only 14.8 percent of Chinese exports went to the US in 2023. So while the US was China’s biggest export market that year, China’s vast portfolio of other export destinations – including Japan, Germany, India and Mexico – means that it might hurt less than Canada or Mexico.

Still, the tariffs could influence how China approaches future trade with the US, according to experts.

“Escalation of tariffs and a continuation of unilateral measures could deepen the erosion of trust in the global trade system, further pushing China to diversify its partners and reduce reliance on the US market,” Carlos Lopes, a Chatham House associate fellow with expertise in international trade and China, told Al Jazeera back in January.

How will this affect US consumers?

In 2023, the US imported $3 trillion worth of goods – about $1 trillion more than it exported.

US consumers are already facing higher car prices following Trump’s 25 percent levies on all autos and auto parts coming into the US, which came into effect on Wednesday, April 2. Since the tariffs also apply to auto parts, cars manufactured in the US using imported parts will become more expensive.

“The increased costs would cause significant disruption throughout the supply chain and, perhaps, most importantly, lead to significant price increases to the cost to American consumers for vehicles,” the Detroit Regional Chamber and MichAuto, an automotive and mobility association, said in a letter, the Reuters news agency reported.

On Thursday, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon responded to the 10 percent tariffs imposed on the country: “It ends up driving higher prices for US consumers, higher inflation, slows down growth and, as a result, that puts real pressure in across the world.”

US president says Iran initially wanted talks through intermediaries, but he thinks Tehran has changed its position.

Washington, DC – Donald Trump has suggested that Iran may agree to direct talks with the United States despite the intensifying tensions and back-and-forth threats between the two countries.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the US president appeared optimistic about the prospect of face-to-face diplomacy with Tehran.

“I think it’s better if we have direct talks,” he said. “I think it goes faster, and you understand the other side a lot better than if you go through intermediaries. They wanted to use intermediaries. I don’t think that’s necessarily true any more.”

Last month, Trump sent a letter to the Iranian leadership calling for negotiations to address Iran’s nuclear programme. The US president has also been regularly threatening Iran with military strikes.

Tehran has rejected the prospect of direct talks with Washington but said it is open to indirect diplomacy.

It is not clear whether Iran has indeed changed its stance or if Trump is speculating about Tehran’s position.

The US administration has been piling up sanctions against Iran with the aim of completely choking off the country’s oil exports – particularly to China.

In 2018, during his first term as president, Trump nixed a multilateral deal that saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against its economy.

Tehran maintains that it is not seeking a nuclear weapon. Israel, the top US ally in the region, is widely believed to have an undeclared nuclear arsenal.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has promised to bring “peace” to global conflicts – though he has addressed Iran with a mix of public diplomatic overtures and bombastic warnings.

“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” he said last week.

Iranian officials have responded with their own threats, suggesting that, if the country is attacked, it will strike back against US troops and interests in the Middle East.

“The US must know that, when facing Iran, threats will never achieve anything,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

“The US and others must know that, if they commit any malicious act against the Iranian nation, they will receive a severe blow.”

But Tehran’s position in the region appears to have weakened amid the ongoing war in Gaza and beyond.

Israel, for example, killed the top political and military leadership of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iran’s once-fearsome ally. Iran lost another key partner after armed opposition groups toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December of last year.

“I think they’re concerned, I think they feel vulnerable, and I don’t want them to feel that way,” Trump said on Thursday, referring to Iran.

These are the key events on day 1,134 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

These are the key events from Wednesday, April 2:

Fighting

One person was killed and two others injured in a Russian overnight attack on southeast Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, Regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said.
A Russian ballistic missile strike on Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih killed at least four people and injured 14 others, including two children, Ukrainian authorities said.
An infant, a seven-year-old boy and six others were also injured in a drone attack on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, said Oleh Syniehubov, the region’s governor. Kharkiv’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 15 drone strikes were carried out in the region.
At least 60 people were forced to evacuate from their homes in the Russian city of Kursk after falling debris from intercepted Ukrainian drones hit their apartment buildings, acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein, said.
Russia’s state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti report that Russian forces destroyed 93 Ukrainian drones overnight, most of which were destroyed over the Kursk region.
The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 41 of 74 Russian drones launched towards Ukraine overnight. Another 20 drones failed to reach their targets due to electronic jamming measures, the air force said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said nearly 4,000 people were left without electricity after a Russian drone hit a substation in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, and artillery fire damaged a power line in the central Dnipropetrovsk region.
Moscow’s Ministry of Defence also accused Kyiv of hitting Russian energy facilities twice in the past 24 hours despite a mutual moratorium on energy strikes brokered by the United States.
Germany’s Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) news agency reported that Russia had destroyed one of its own dams in the Belgorod border region using an aerial bomb. The reason for the dam’s destruction was not given.

Oil and Gas

Russia said it ordered the closure of the Black Sea port terminal handling Kazakhstan’s oil exports and US giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil, after two inspections on moorings for vessels at the terminals.

Ceasefire

Russia and Ukraine accused each other of breaching the US-brokered moratorium on energy strikes after both countries reported damage to energy facilities due to alleged violations by both sides.

Politics and Diplomacy

Eleven Ukrainian children were returned to Kyiv from Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine under the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, President Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said.
The Kremlin said it is “possible” that Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev will visit the US and said contact with Washington was ongoing. The Reuters news agency reported that Dmitriev is expected in Washington this week for talks with US President Donald Trump’s administration.