Trump’s Reciprocal Tariff: Renegotiating with the World

Yesterday, April 2, 2025, President Trump announced new tariffs, referred to as “reciprocal tariffs,” against more than 180 countries simultaneously. Both the magnitude of the tariffs and the number of countries against which they will be levied far exceeded market expectations.  This raises new concerns for investors regarding how these new tariff policies will impact the US economy, both in the short term and long term.

While policy can be debated regarding whether or not the new tariffs will bring positive long-term change to the US economy, we believe that additional risk may lie in the method by which the new policy is being implemented. As we have seen in business many times, the right strategy, executed the wrong way, can lead to unexpected negative outcomes.