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Demonstrators rally against President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk during a Hands Off! protest on the Washington Monument grounds in Washington, DC, on April 5, 2025.
Trump’s tariffs trigger aftershocks at home and abroad
US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs have been met with anger, outrage, and disbelief in every corner of the world – including islands inhabited solely by penguins. At last count, at least 50 countries want to talk trade with Washington, while in the US, opposition to Trump’s presidency is getting organized. Here’s a look at this weekend’s reactions.
In America: Protests, pleas, and pride
From San Francisco to Tulsa to DC, protesters took to the streets on Saturday in over 1,400 demonstrations across all 50 states, demanding that Trump and his “billionaire friends” take their “Hands Off” programs like Medicare and Social Security. While the protests were not specifically aimed at the tariffs, many demonstrators denounced their impact on consumers and retirees, who feared for the future of their investments in the wake of tariff-induced market turmoil.
Meanwhile, top tech and finance leaders — including reps from Apple, Goldman Sachs, and Meta — reportedly plan to fly to Mar-a-Lago to urge Trump to reconsider his tariff plans. Their message: Tariffs are tanking investor confidence and threatening America’s innovation edge.
In the Midwest, it’s a different story. In Iowa, Ohio, and the Dakotas, many in Trump’s base are cheering. Farmers, small manufacturers, and assembly line workers, angry at the impact of offshoring, say the tariffs finally put America first. As a candy store manager in small-town Ohio told the BBC, “If tariffs bring companies and business back to hardworking American people like the ones who live here, then it’s worth it.”
Overseas: Calls for unity, calculated countermeasures
Abroad, in the words of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the consensus is that “the world as we knew it has gone.” The EU is promising a coordinated response in the coming days with retaliatory tariffs on a host of American goods, including diamonds, meat, cereals, wine, wood, clothing, chewing gum, dental floss, vacuum cleaners, and toilet paper. (In a curious twist, Trump adviser Elon Musk suggested on Saturday to a far-right Italian party that the US and Europe form a zero-tariff free trade zone, saying that this “has certainly been my advice to the president.” We’ll see whether Trump takes it.)
In Asia, responses have been mixed. Indonesia and Taiwan’s governments have opted not to retaliate, while Vietnam’s President To Lam has already been on the phone with Trump, proposing a deal to eliminate tariffs entirely between the two nations. In contrast, China is digging in its heels, placing export restrictions on rare earths in addition to reciprocal tariffs of 34% on US goods. Both measures were announced on Friday after two days of stock market meltdowns, which continued into Monday, as the Nikkei plunged 7.8%, while two other Asian indexes had record losses for a single day. Wall Street is also set for another week of turmoil after Dow Jones futures fell 1,500 points (over 3.5%) late Sunday.
Responding to the continued market downturn, Trump said Sunday night that “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he leaves the White House for a trip to Florida on April 3, 2025.
Reality hits on new tariffs, but Trump says it’s ‘going very well’
The reviews are in: US President Donald Trump’s widespread tariff plan isn’t most loved, especially not with the markets. Stocks have plummeted, layoffs have begun, and confusion has metastasized about the bizarre method the United States used to calculate its tariff formula. And, of course, there’s a lawsuit.
The reaction from countries affected by the tariffs, though, was relatively muted. The European Union threatened to retaliate if the Trump administration didn’t withdraw these new duties but hasn’t explicitly made any moves yet. The United Kingdom drew up a list of potential US products it could tariff but hasn’t yet taken any specific actions. Australia outright won’t retaliate.
One exception. China introduced a 34% retaliatory tariff on US goods on Friday, matching what the White House imposed on them. The move turns the simmering tensions between the two superpowers into a full-fledged trade war.
Big bully. These major economies will take a hit, but it could be the smallest countries that suffer the most. Due to the tariff formula — which ostensibly involves dividing the US trade deficit with a country by the total amount of imports from it, and then halving this number — nations like Lesotho, Myanmar, and Nauru must deal with new duties approaching 50%. Their humble economies rely on producing for the mammoth US market, so these huge price hikes could devastate them.
Totally chill meeting. The new tariffs overshadowed a NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, one that was supposed to focus on reaffirming the military alliance between the United States and its European allies. Despite US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s conciliatory tone, leaders across the pond expressed dismay at the new levies, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arguing that economic security was linked to “overall security.”
Whatever the complaints from Europe, Trump is unlikely to reverse course, says Eurasia Group trade and global supply chain expert Nancy Wei.
“The newly introduced tariffs under President Trump’s administration are designed to be a lasting ‘tariff wall’ around the US,” Wei said. “It is improbable that negotiations will lead to major tariff reductions or complete removal.”
While some thought Trump might reverse course in the face of market volatility, the US president didn’t seem too fazed by the chaos. He told reporters on Thursday that he thought it was “going very well” and likened the situation to a patient having surgery. “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country's going to boom,” he added.
President Donald Trump holds a "Foreign Trade Barriers" document as he delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025.
Trump’s tariffs spark market chaos, risk political backlash
Donald Trump’s much-anticipated “liberation day” tariff announcement on Wednesday is the biggest disruption to global trade in decades, so the political, diplomatic, and economic impacts will take time to become clear.
In a dramatic unveiling in the Rose Garden, Trump set in place tariffs of at least 10% on most US trading partners, which set off a global sell-off of stocks, a rebellion from some Republicans, and angry rebukes from shocked trading partners.
It is hard to game out what will happen next because it has been so long since a shock on this scale hit the global tradition system. “We’re literally going back 100 years for historical precedents, and I’m not sure that there is an economic precedent of a policy-driven change of this magnitude in this direction,” says Eurasia Group senior analyst Graeme Thompson.
Trump’s new policy will make it more expensive for Americans to buy products from most countries, which investors fear will lead to a dramatic global economic slowdown and drive up inflation. Trump’s stated goal for the new policy is to stop foreign countries from taking advantage of the United States and boost American manufacturing, but observers and analysts are almost universally united in skepticism around the “golden age” that he promises they will bring.
Because the results are hitting investors and will soon hit the pocketbooks of consumers, there will be growing pressure on Republicans in the House and Senate to force Trump to change course. Until now, Trump’s popularity with his electoral base has kept them in line, but this new policy may put that under strain. Four senators voted with the Democrats in a (likely only symbolic) vote against Canadian tariffs late Wednesday, an acknowledgment that Republicans could face political blowback in the midterms for these widespread duties.
The political reaction is taking place before other countries have even put in place retaliatory measures, which can be expected to damage American exports. The greatest downside is unpredictability.
“I think what is hitting investors globally at this point is that uncertainty,” says Thompson.
“If you just came in and said, very clearly, ‘This is what’s happening, end of story,’ I think a lot of companies wouldn’t be happy, but they could work with it, but that’s not the story that we’ve got right now.”
It’s hard to see anything positive in the reactions from markets in the short term, and the political and diplomatic reaction in the United States and abroad is likely to test the strength of Trump’s support.
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