“We will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” said President Donald Trump in his inauguration speech on Jan. 20. Since then he has put at least 10% tariff tax on about 90 countries.
President Trump initially proposed tariffs on his inauguration, which now affects about 90 countries including China, Canada, Pakistan and many more.
Mr. Geoff Payne, a consultant, said that by targeting so many countries at once with tariffs the move “injected uncertainty into the global stock markets driving massive losses for most investors,” said Mr. Payne.
According to tradingeconomics.com, the U.S Stock Market Index has had a significant decline since Trump became president. On April 8, it hit the all time low for 2025, of 4969.3 out of about 62000.
According to carnigeedownment.org earlier this year 27% of Canadians saw the U.S as an enemy country from the tariffs.
Mr. Jerome Stack, seventh-grade history teacher, said the tariffs could affect our diplomacy relationships.
He said, “They have a really negative effect with our relationship. It’s hard to really know. I think everybody is hoping for the best.”
The Chinese embassy has also expressed disinterest on their “X” (formally twitter) account.
They said, “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,”
Mr. Payne stated, “Diplomacy matters and we need to ask ourselves how these tariffs can possibly strengthen the United States as the partner of choice for countries, globally weighing alliances, and the cost of doing business between us and China.”
Mr. Payne cited an example of the immediate impact the announced tariffs had on purchasing power.
He said, “I recently noticed at Costco that the price of a bag of six imported avocados increased $1 after President Trump announced the tariffs.”
Major companies are taking big steps in response to the tariffs. For instance, Tate Motors, the owner of Jaguar and Land Rover, temporarily halted their shipments to the U.S as they adjusted to the new 25% vehicle import tax.
The Land Rover company on a The New York Times article, said, “As we work to address the new trading terms…we are taking some short-term actions.”
Mrs. Sabrina Oshop, seventh-grade science teacher, on the other hand, says she doesn’t think it will affect her family much because of the resourceful activities that she does at home.
She said, “I buy clothes from consignment stores, grow a lot of my own fruits and veggies, Mr. Oshop hunts and processes most of our meat.”
On April 27, President Trump reached his first 100 days in office of his second term.
He had also announced his 90-pause on April 9.
After the U.S. excluded China from the 90 day pause and upped the tariffs to 145% for imported goods, there have been some speculations of a trade war happening/us being in one with China.
