Customs duties will enter into force on the 2nd of April

White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitte confirmed, during a press conference Thursday, that the “mutual” customs duties that President Donald Trump wants to impose will enter into force from April 2.
“The president was especially clear about his intention for the second of April, which will be a great day for our country,” Levit said, stressing that “huge customs duties will enter into force.”
The “mutual” means imposing the same level of fees on the products received from a country when they enter the United States markets, as well as the American products exported to the country itself.

American definitions

Earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent confirmed that “the countries will be subject to proportions that we see as representing the customs definitions they apply.”
He added: “We will go to them and tell them this is the level of your customs fees, non -customs barriers, and the manipulations that take place on your currency exchange rate,” adding that if the countries concerned abandon these practices, “we will not apply customs duties.”
Trump criticizes the US trading partners for not opening their markets to American products as much as the United States does towards the products from abroad.

Trump has repeatedly condemned, whether during the presidential campaign or since his return to the oval office, the United States’ trade deficit with its main commercial partners, especially to China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Also, the US President has widely defended the importance of customs duties, especially to protect the American industry and partially finance the federal budget, but he used it mainly as a means of pressure in diplomatic negotiations with several countries.
This applies, especially to 25% customs duties that Trump wanted to impose on Canadian and Mexican products at the beginning of February, and has been postponed from then until the entry of mutual customs duties into force on April 2, as well as additional fees on Chinese products of 20% compared to their level at the end of the year 2024, entered into force.