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<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="4045" height="2697" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/6MSJZV4H5RNIDI4ITMOIPSV2ZE.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-603977"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">U.S. President Donald Trump walks to board Air Force One, as he departs for Florida, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., March 28, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that reciprocal tariffs he is set to announce this week will include all nations, not just a smaller group of 10 to 15 countries with the biggest trade imbalances.



Trump has promised to unveil a massive tariff plan on Wednesday, which he has dubbed “Liberation Day.” He has already imposed tariffs on aluminum, steel and autos, along with increased tariffs on all goods from China.



“You’d start with all countries,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “Essentially all of the countries that we’re talking about.”



White House economics adviser Kevin Hassett recently told Fox Business that the administration’s tariffs focus would be on 10 to 15 countries with the worst trade imbalances, though he did not list them.



Trump sees tariffs as a way of protecting the domestic economy from unfair global competition and a bargaining chip for better terms for the U.S.



However, concerns about a trade war are unsettling markets and creating fears of a recession in the U.S.



Trump has said he will impose a suite of reciprocal tariffs against nations that charge fees on U.S. exports, promising to match those countries’ duties.



In February, Trump signed a memorandum that directed U.S. trade officials to go country by country and put together a list of tailored counter-measures.



Last week, he suggested he might scale back his reciprocal plans, perhaps imposing tariffs in some cases at lower rates than countries charge the United States.

6MSJZV4H5RNIDI4ITMOIPSV2ZE

Trump says reciprocal tariffs will target all countries

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="462" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108123167-17431962612025-03-28t210936z_334592772_rc2jmdagkv1j_rtrmadp_0_usa-stocks-820x462.png" alt="" class="wp-image-603920" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108123167-17431962612025-03-28t210936z_334592772_rc2jmdagkv1j_rtrmadp_0_usa-stocks-820x462.png 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108123167-17431962612025-03-28t210936z_334592772_rc2jmdagkv1j_rtrmadp_0_usa-stocks-300x169.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108123167-17431962612025-03-28t210936z_334592772_rc2jmdagkv1j_rtrmadp_0_usa-stocks-160x90.png 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108123167-17431962612025-03-28t210936z_334592772_rc2jmdagkv1j_rtrmadp_0_usa-stocks-768x432.png 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108123167-17431962612025-03-28t210936z_334592772_rc2jmdagkv1j_rtrmadp_0_usa-stocks.png 1480w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., March 28, 2025. </figcaption></figure>



Global markets and U.S. stock futures fell early Monday as traders looked ahead to “Liberation Day” for clarity on President Donald Trump’s tariff plans. 



Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 145 points, or 0.35%. S&amp;P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.64% and 1.18%, respectively.



A slew of tariffs set to be enacted by the Trump administration will go into effect on Wednesday — what Trump has called “Liberation Day” — including a 25% levy on “all cars that are not made in the United States.” The president is also expected to announce his plan for reciprocal tariffs.



Uncertainty surrounding tariffs has been an overhang on equities, dragging stocks lower again on Friday to end the last full trading week of March. Trump did little to assuage fears over the weekend, with The Wall Street Journal reporting Sunday that the president had in recent days pushed his advisors to get more aggressive when it comes to tariffs. In a Saturday interview with NBC News, Trump said that he “couldn’t care less” if foreign automakers raise their prices due to these new tariffs.



On Wednesday, it is hoped investors will gain some clarity on which trading partners will be affected by the new duties, and by how much, wrote Emmanuel Cau, equity strategist at Barclays.



“Tariff risk has been well telegraphed and is largely priced in corners of the market. So liberation day may not be a complete shocker. However, no one wins from trade war, and clouds are gathering over the global growth outlook,” Cau wrote in a Friday note. “Negotiations will likely start after April 2, which leads to an extended period of uncertainty about the final scope, level and timing of tariffs.”



Against this backdrop of mounting trade and economic concerns, the three major averages are all on pace to end the month lower. The S&amp;P 500 is down 6.3% for the month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is poised for a 5.2% loss. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has tanked 8.1%.



Investors will also be looking forward to a heavy slate of economic data this week, most notably the March jobs report, which will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, April 4.

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108121139-1742932113047-gettyimages-2206346050-AFP_37V49ZV-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-602394" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108121139-1742932113047-gettyimages-2206346050-AFP_37V49ZV-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108121139-1742932113047-gettyimages-2206346050-AFP_37V49ZV-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108121139-1742932113047-gettyimages-2206346050-AFP_37V49ZV-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108121139-1742932113047-gettyimages-2206346050-AFP_37V49ZV-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108121139-1742932113047-gettyimages-2206346050-AFP_37V49ZV-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108121139-1742932113047-gettyimages-2206346050-AFP_37V49ZV.jpeg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">US President Donald Trump meets with US Ambassadors in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 25, 2025. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



President Donald Trump said that tariffs will likely be more “lenient than reciprocal,” as the April 2 tariff deadline looms for a number of levies to go into effect.



“I’ll probably be more lenient than reciprocal, because if I was reciprocal, that would be very tough for people,” Trump said Tuesday in an interview with Newsmax.



“I know there are some exceptions, and it’s an ongoing discussion, but not too many, not too many exceptions,” the president added.



The White House later clarified the president’s remarks, saying the Trump administration will no longer take into account non-tariff barriers countries raise against the United States to determine the reciprocal tariff rate, as told to CNBC’s Eamon Javers.



Non-tariff barriers include factors such as a value-added tax (VAT) — which is a tax on the final consumption of a good or service based on the value added at each production stage — as well as wage suppression and currency manipulation.



The softening stance on tariffs from the Trump administration could soothe investors worried a global trade war will slow down the U.S. economy.



Already, consumer and corporate sentiment have taken a hit. On Tuesday, the Conference Board said its measure for consumer expectations on business, income and labor dropped to a 12-year low.



Stocks have struggled recently, with the S&amp;P 500 dropping 3% in the past month. The benchmark also dipped into correction territory amid the tariff pressures, briefly trading more than 10% below a record set in February.

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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108120681-1742877286599-gettyimages-2206472137-vcg111556724938-820x547.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-601538" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108120681-1742877286599-gettyimages-2206472137-vcg111556724938-820x547.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108120681-1742877286599-gettyimages-2206472137-vcg111556724938-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108120681-1742877286599-gettyimages-2206472137-vcg111556724938-135x90.jpeg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108120681-1742877286599-gettyimages-2206472137-vcg111556724938-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108120681-1742877286599-gettyimages-2206472137-vcg111556724938-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/108120681-1742877286599-gettyimages-2206472137-vcg111556724938-scaled.jpeg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Attendees pose for a group photo before the opening ceremony of the China Development Forum 2025 at the Diaoyutai Guesthouse on March 23, 2025, in Beijing. China News Service | China News Service | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



BEIJING — China courted the executives of major U.S. businesses at an annual conference this week in a sign of how Beijing seeks to offset trade pressures, rather than retaliate forcefully.



China has long sought to attract foreign investment as a way to bolster growth, while tapping business interests for potential influence on the White House, particularly under U.S. President Donald Trump. The U.S. has twice increased tariffs across all Chinese goods since January, but Beijing has only announced targeted duties and restrictions on a handful of American companies.



Conversation on the sidelines of the state-organized China Development Forum this week in Beijing reinforced a more conciliatory stance than official rhetoric this month about how China is prepared to fight “any type of war” with the United States.



Chinese conference attendees weren’t that focused on what can be done to respond to U.S. tariffs, Stephen Roach, senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, told CNBC.



“The questions I’ve been getting more [are], why is Trump doing this? What is he trying to achieve? What does he think it takes to really make America great?” Roach said. He has attended the event since the early 2000s.



“My answer is this is an unprecedented period for America’s role in the world economy. We’re going back to a tariff regime that history tells us can be extremely destructive,” Roach said, adding he expects more policy uncertainty in the U.S. and around the world “for a long, long time.”



U.S. stocks have swung in recent weeks as investors try to assess the economic impact of Trump’s changing plans for tariffs on major U.S. trading partners. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week said tariffs could delay progress on lowering inflation in the U.S.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-message-of-reassurance"><a></a>A message of ‘reassurance’</h2>



At this week’s conference, China was trying to send a message of “reassurance” — on how it plans to boost consumption and how the country is headed in a “modestly positive direction” relative to what is happening in the U.S., said Scott Kennedy, senior advisor and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, D.C.



If the U.S. imposes significantly large tariffs in early April, “then you go from managing costs and de-risking to possibly de-coupling,” Kennedy told CNBC. “And then that might mean the game is up. So I think the level of anxiety is pretty high. And that’s why China is trying to provide this message of reassurance.”



The Trump administration has threatened a swath of new tariffs on major trading partners starting early April. China has increased its trade with Southeast Asian countries and the European Union, but the U.S. remains Beijing’s largest trading partner on a single-country basis.



The China Development Forum ran Sunday and Monday. Apple CEO Tim Cook was among the executives who attended, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk was not.



“The increased optimism this year compared to last year at the CDF has been just so heart warming,” Ken Griffin, CEO of hedge fund Citadel, said during an official panel at the forum.



Trump “is committed to American companies having access to a global market,” Griffin said. “And the President is willing to use tariffs to seek to enforce this worldview.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-first-step-toward-xi-trump-meeting"><a></a>First step toward Xi-Trump meeting?</h2>



Also on Sunday, U.S. Republican Senator Steve Daines met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing — the first time a U.S. politician has visited China since Trump began his latest term in January.



“This was the first step to an important next step, which will be a meeting between President Xi and President Trump,” Daines told the Wall Street Journal. “When that occurs and where it occurs is to be determined.”



The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



Li urged cooperation and said no one can gain from a trade war, according to state media.



FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam, Boeing Senior Vice President Brendan Nelson, Cargill CEO Brian Sikes, Medtronic CEO Geoffrey Martha, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, UL Solutions CEO Jennifer Scanlon and U.S. China Business Council President Sean Stein were also present at Daines’ meeting with Li, according to a foreign media pool report.



China, the world’s second-largest economy, remains a significant source of revenue for many multinational corporations, not to mention a major part of their supply chains.



Despite its efforts to bolster international business ties, the country has warned of countermeasures on U.S. tariffs and taken incremental steps.



Following U.S. sanctions on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei during Trump’s first term as president, Beijing launched an unreliable entities list that restricts foreign business activity with China.



China added Calvin Klein parent PVH and a few other U.S. companies to the list after this year’s tariff increases. On Monday, China also said it would soon reveal new measures that would give it a legal basis for countering foreign pressure.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-economic-factors"><a></a>Economic factors</h2>



For U.S. companies in China, the state of the economic recovery has also been an important factor for local business plans.



Since late September, China has stepped up efforts to support the economy. Top policymakers earlier this month affirmed stimulus plans and a recent effort to encourage private-sector tech entrepreneurs in the wake of DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence breakthroughs.



“This year, you feel a lot of positive momentum beginning in China. So I feel like recovery is underway,” Wendell P. Weeks, CEO of Corning, told CNBC.



However, China’s economy has struggled with deflationary pressure and a real estate slump, weighing on regional growth prospects for international businesses.



Even Beijing’s push to support high-tech manufacturing has so far only added an average 1.1 percentage points to gross domestic product growth in each of the last three years — not enough to offset the 1.7 percentage point drag from real estate during that time, according to Goldman Sachs estimates.



“We will remain optimistic because the role of technology is important, I think more than ever,” Qualcomm’s Amon told CNBC. “I think technology is going to be part of economic growth.”

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I’m not worried about the next generation, says Singapore’s Digital Minister

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