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Wall Street's reaction to the Trump tariffs was not good.
Wall Street opened down Thursday morning. The Dow was off by more than 1,000 points after the President delivered on ''Liberation Day", by announcing that 10% reciprocal tariffs will go into effect for all countries, with higher levels for nations that Trump says "treat us badly."
Trump said the tariff will "Make America wealthy again", while proclaiming that April 2, 2025 will go down as one of the most important days in modern American history.
Trump's massive slate of reciprocal tariffs on countries from Canada to Mexico and more are set to take effect. Trump noted that for the European Union, the U.S. will charge its nations a 20% tariff, Japan will see 24% tariffs, while China will be hit with a 34% tariff compared to the 67% it charges the U.S.
KTRH Money Man Pat Shinn says most of these tariffs beyond the initial 10% are primarily just starting points for negotiations, and those will go away as Trump cuts deals with various countries. He says long term, the uncertainty is worse than the substance here.
Trump has said he just wants to level the economic playing field, and Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary told Fox News reciprocal tariffs will do that. He said, "He's [Trump] just saying, let's go reciprocal. Why don't you drop yours to zero, and I'll talk to Trump about dropping his to zero, and we'll both have zero, and we'll combine the economies."
He went on to point out that for years now, American products have been hit with massive tariffs from other countries, saying, "If you look at the aggregate of tariffs in the United States on inbound, they're much less than what countries are charging on outbound American goods."
Opponents of the policy have claimed that these tariffs will result in prices skyrocketing and causing a recession, but O'Leary thinks the tariffs are just a negotiation tactic and that a recession is unlikely. He said, "Most countries are going to be incentivized to cut a deal. I think you have to take the noise away from the signal, and the signal is pretty good in the economy right now."
He went on to say that even Canada, which has been very openly resistant to Trump's economic demands, will eventually come to the table after their elections, which are just six weeks away.