Donald Trump announces reciprocal tariffs from April 2; why not April 1? THIS is what Trump says

The United States will start charging its reciprocal tariffs from April 2, President Donald Trump said in his address to the Congress on Tuesday.

Setting the mood lighter while making the announcement, Trump said he did not want to be “accused” of starting the reciprocal tariff rule on April 1 even though he wanted to.

“On April 2, I wanted to make it April 1, but I didn't want to be accused of April Fools' Day. This one day will cost us a lot of money, but we're going to do it on April 2. I'm a very superstitious person (sic),” Trump said.

He announced that reciprocal tariffs will kick in on April 2.

“On April 2, reciprocal tariffs kick in, And whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That's reciprocal tariff back and forth,” Trump said.

“Whatever they tax us, we will tax them,” he added.

The US president further revealed that if countries go on the path of imposing ‘non-monetary’ tariffs on the country, he will also go that way.

“If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will do non monetary barriers to keep them out of our market. There's a lot of that (non-monetary tariffs) too. They don't even allow us in their market,” he said.

Trump promised that this will allow the US to earn ‘trillions’ of dollars and create jobs.

“We will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before. I did it with China and I did it with others, and the Biden administration couldn't do anything about it,” he said.

Trump said that “nearly every country on earth” has been imposing tariffs on the US for decades now, but he will not let that happen any longer.

Reciprocal tariffs on India, Canada, others

Earlier during his speech, Trump re-emphasised his stance on charging reciprocal tariffs to countries. He said that it was now time for the US to charge tariffs to countries who have been imposing taxes on US-made goods for decades.

“On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico, Canada, and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It's very unfair,” he said.

Trump was particularly focussed on India's imposition of high tariffs on the US.

“India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100%. China's average tariff on our products is twice what we charge them, and South Korea's average tariff is four times higher,” he said.

Trump complained that this was not fair to the US.

Donald Trump addresses Congress

President Donald Trump credited himself and his administration for “swift and unrelenting action” in reorienting the nation’s economy, immigration and foreign policy Tuesday in an address to Congress and the American people about his turbulent first weeks in office.

“It has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action,” Trump said of his opening weeks in office. “The people elected me to do the job, and I am doing it," he said.

He further explained that the US economy is set to see little "disturbance" from tariffs, but touted levies as a tool that would help domestic industries boom.

He warned that those who do not make their products in the United States will have to pay taxes, "in some cases a rather large one."

What is reciprocal tariff? How does it affect India?

Reciprocal tariffs are the tariffs that are imposed by a country on the other to match the tariff rate of the latter. The tariffs are imposed on the import of the goods of the latter country by the former country.

If US imposes reciprocal tariffs on India, the imports of India-made goods will see a hike, which will increase their prices in the US. This will make US imports of Indian goods less attractive.