Since the 1960s, tariffs — or import taxes — have emerged from negotiations between dozens of countries. Trump wants to seize the process. “Obviously, it disrupts the way that things have been done for a very long time,

Trump has used the tariffs as a negotiating tool and a way to protect US industry, and has repeatedly railed against the country’s trade deficit. The order to draw up a reciprocal tariff plan comes alongside other measures, which often do not take a reciprocal approach.

4.8%. That’s how much the U.S.’ weighted average tariff rate would be if Trump implemented the country-level strategy, Deutsche Bank economists led by Justin Weidner estimated in a Monday note. That’s a 3.3 percentage-point increase from the 1.5% effective rate U.S. imports had in 2022, according to the World Bank.