How Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs Might Go Down

DealBook|How ‘Liberation Day’ Might Go Down

Tariffs in the Rose Garden

Global markets are mostly lower ahead of President Trump’s big tariffs rollout today, but it’s not the tumult that has rocked stocks in recent weeks.

S&P 500 futures are holding steady, in the red, as economists warn that Trump’s protectionist policies could set off a global trade war that slams growth and raises prices.

Business leaders and policymakers are on tenterhooks over what the president might introduce this afternoon. As of yesterday, Trump’s team was still debating what the reciprocal tariffs would look like, Bloomberg reports.

The big questions: Will they involve a blanket flat rate — say, a 20 percent duty? Will the levies be tailored by country, with those running the biggest trade surpluses to the U.S. seeing the biggest hit? Or will it be a tiered system in which targets are put into a bad or a worse category?

Adding to the confusion, the White House says the tariffs would go into effect immediately, but also that the president was open to negotiating.

The uncertainty has forced companies to scramble. Mercedes is weighing whether to pull some cheaper models, like the ​​GLA sport utility vehicle, from the U.S. market, as a round of auto tariffs — set to go into effect tomorrow — challenge the company’s profitability, Bloomberg reports. And Sandoz, the European pharma giant, has warned that the trade war could drive up health care costs and crimp drug availability.