‘Seismic shift’ in trade causing fractured messaging on Trump tariffs

The Trump administration’s recent tariff announcements are a “seismic shift” to international trade policy, with the administration currently focused on addressing the trade deficit, which ultimately will have a cascading effect by bolstering U.S. jobs, cutting taxes for Americans and protecting the nation’s supply chain, an administration official told Fox News Digital. 

Trump officials have offered a wide range of messaging to the public as to how President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff plan will benefit the U.S. economy and its citizens, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly traveling to Florida over the weekend to meet with Trump and encourage the administration to focus its messaging on his final goals for the tariffs. 

An administration official who spoke to Fox Digital Tuesday explained that Trump’s recent tariff announcements are “massive” policy changes, which have brought with them a bevy of goals and objectives the administration plans to achieve. 

The official explained that “multiple things can be true at once,” emphasizing that the administration is focused on bringing parity to the U.S.’s chronic trade deficit with other nations, which will lead to an evened-out trade playing field, increased tariff revenue that can assist with tax cuts, a more secure U.S.-based supply chain and additional U.S.-based jobs. 

INDONESIA, OTHER COUNTRIES COME TO TRUMP TARIFF NEGOTIATING TABLE

President Donald Trump holds up a chart of “reciprocal tariffs” while speaking in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

Ahead of Trump’s customized tariffs taking effect Wednesday for a handful of nations that historically have leveled hefty trade barriers on the U.S., Fox News Digital looked back on the four top goals of the Trump tariff plans and “Liberation Day” announcement. 

HOUSE DEMOCRAT SAYS HE’D VOTE TO PROTECT TRUMP’S TARIFF PLAN, WORRIES WHITE HOUSE WILL STAND DOWN

Aims to reduce trade deficit 

Trump has long slammed tariffs imposed by other nations on the U.S. and vowed to rectify the U.S. trade deficit with reciprocal tariffs on nations that have historically charged America a lofty duty tax or imposed other restrictions on U.S. goods. 

“Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries,” Trump said during his March address to a joint congress. 

“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,” he said. “There’s a lot of that too. They don’t even allow us in their market.” 

Non-tariff barriers are understood as trade restrictions that limit international trade through means other than tariffs, such as quotas or regulations. Non-tariff barriers imposed by other countries on the U.S. commonly focus on agricultural goods, such as limits on meats and fresh produce the nation can export abroad. 

President Donald Trump has announced that he will be imposing a 25% tariff on all foreign steel and aluminum imports into the United States. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)

“They manipulated their currencies, subsidized their exports, stole our intellectual property, imposed exorbitant VAT taxes to disadvantage our products, adopted unfair rules and technical standards, and created filthy pollution havens,” Trump said during the April 2 event. “They were absolutely filthy, but they always came to us and they said, we’re violating. We should pay for it.”

Trump and his administration touted that his tariff plans would level the playing field for trade after decades of other nations imposing expensive tariffs on the U.S. while America did not do the same. 

CHINA REFUSES TO BACK DOWN ON TARIFFS AFTER TRUMP THREATENED TOUGHER MEASURES 

“April 2, 2025, will go down as one of the most important days in modern American history,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said April 1 during a press briefing. “Our country has been one of the most open economies in the world, and we have the consumer base, hands down – the best consumer base. But too many foreign countries have their markets closed to our exports. This is fundamentally unfair.” 

President Donald Trump takes a question from a member of the media during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House on April 7, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

Trump celebrated in his speech on “Liberation Day” that the days of other nations “ripping us off” on trade are over. 

The Trump administration’s tariff plan leveled a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports to the U.S., while customized tariffs were set for countries that have higher tariffs in place on American goods. The baseline tariffs of 10% took effect Saturday, while the other tariffs will take effect Wednesday.  

The customized tariffs, Trump explained, would not be full reciprocal tariffs, as his administration was “very kind” and leveled tariffs that are roughly half of what a particular nation was charging the U.S. on tariffs. 

TRUMP THREATENS TO ADD 50% TARIFFS ON CHINA IF RETALIATORY TARIFFS NOT DROPPED

Since Trump’s announcement, dozens of foreign leaders have contacted the White House in an effort to negotiate, with Bessent telling FOX Business Monday that “50, 60, maybe almost 70 countries” have contacted the president to strike a deal. 

Aims to bring back the ‘American Dream’ with U.S. job creation 

Trump touted in February, when he announced he had tapped Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik to produce a reciprocal trade relations report ahead of his April tariff announcements, that tariffs will spark a boon for American workers as overseas operations will move to the U.S. to avoid tariffs. 

PRICE TAG: HOW MUCH AMERICANS COULD PAY BETWEEN TARIFFS AND TAX CUTS EXPIRING

“They can build a factory here, a plant or whatever it may be, here,” Trump said in February from the Oval Office. “And that includes the medical, that includes cars, that includes chips and semiconductors. That includes everything. If you build here, you have no tariffs whatsoever. And I think that’s what’s going to happen. I think our country is going to be flooded with jobs.”

“And again, if somebody wants to come in, including the car companies, if they want to come in and build car plants, they’ll do it without tariffs. And therefore, prices won’t go up. There could be some short-term disturbance, but long term, it’s going to make our country a fortune,” he added.

Trump added during his “Liberation Day” announcement last week that, after decades of American workers suffering from previous trade policies that shuttered U.S. manufacturing, the “American Dream” is making a comeback that will bolster U.S. jobs. 

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike. American steelworkers, autoworkers, farmers, and skilled craftsmen, we have a lot of them here with us today, they really suffered gravely. They watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once-beautiful American dream,” he said. 

TRUMP SAYS HE HAD ‘GREAT CALL’ WITH SOUTH KOREAN LEADER, SUGGESTS DEAL POSSIBLE

“Hardworking American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense. But now, it’s our turn to prosper and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt, and it’ll all happen very quickly. With today’s action, we are finally going to be able to make America great again, greater than ever before,” he said. 

Aims to lower taxes for Americans 

Trump’s top trade advisor Peter Navarro, said ahead of Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement that America was on the precipice of the “biggest tax cut in American history” due to Trump’s tariffs. 

Peter Navarro joins Fox News for an interview. (Fox News / FOXBusiness)

“First of all, we’re going to raise about $100 billion with the auto tariffs alone,” Navarro said on “Fox News Sunday” March 30. “What we’re going to do is, in the new tax bill that has to pass, it absolutely has to pass, we’re going to provide tax benefits, tax credits, to the people who buy American cars,” Navarro began. “This is a genius thing that President Trump promised on the campaign trail. So that’s going to happen.”

“In addition, the other tariffs are going to raise about $600 billion a year, about $6 trillion over a 10-year period, and we’re going to have tax cuts,” he continued. “It’s the biggest tax cut in American history for the middle class, for the blue collar.”

WHAT’S THE ‘MAIN PURPOSE’ OF TRUMP’S TARIFFS?

Navarro was referring to Republican members in Congress working to pass a budget bill, which Trump has dubbed the “big beautiful bill,” that aims to permanently install Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and provide lower taxes for individuals and companies. The Senate approved its framework for the bill Saturday, with House Republican leaders rallying lawmakers to enact the legislation. 

Trump’s recent tariffs are anticipated to generate an estimated $700 billion in revenue in their first year, Navarro said, which could provide monetary fiscal room to enable tax cuts for Americans. 

Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, during a news conference. (Samuel Corum/Politico/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)

Leavitt also said during a briefing in March that the tariffs would act as a tax cut for Americans due to the revenue made from the tariffs remaining in the U.S., while wages increase. 

“Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off,” Leavitt said in April. “Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people, and the president is a staunch advocate of tax cuts.” 

“As you know, he campaigned on no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security benefits. He has committed to all three of those things, and he expects Congress to pass them later this year,” she added.

The administration’s fact sheet on Trump’s “Liberation Day” executive order detailed that the tariffs are part of the administration’s larger economic plan to cut taxes and reverse course on the Biden administration’s economic policies. 

“These tariffs are central to President Trump’s plan to reverse the economic damage left by President Biden and put America on a path to a new golden age,” the fact sheet explained. “This builds on his broader economic agenda of energy competitiveness, tax cuts, no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security benefits, and deregulation to boost American prosperity.” 

Aims to protect the American supply chain 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during an event. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via / Getty Images)

Bessent noted in his confirmation hearing that the goal of Trump’s then-upcoming tariff plan would also work as a national security tool that will ensure a strong supply chain at home.

“The goal of tariffs is to increase U.S. industrial capacity, create and protect US jobs, and to protect our national security by ensuring our supply chains, particularly for our military, are not reliant on our adversaries,” Bessent explained to the Senate Committee on Finance in January during his confirmation hearing.

“I believe that tariffs can be an important source of government revenue and can help fund investments that benefit American families, workers, and companies,” Bessent continued. “In addition to raising U.S. government revenue from international sources, tariffs can also be used to pursue trade negotiation objectives and advance national security interests. If confirmed, I am committed to helping maximize the effectiveness of the president’s trade policy agenda and supporting his tax reform and deregulation efforts.” 

The United States was rocked by supply chain issues in 2020, when the pandemic raged and subsequent lockdown orders kept Americans at home while international trade slowed. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS    

“Increased reliance on foreign producers for goods has left the U.S. supply chain vulnerable to geopolitical disruption and supply shocks,” a fact sheet on Trump’s April 2 executive order reads, adding that “this vulnerability was exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.”