Credit: AP
Words by ITV News Producer Georgia Ziebart
On what Donald Trump dubbed one of the most important days in American history, he announced a barrage of tariffs across the globe.
During his hour-long speech in the Rose Garden of the White House, the US President unveiled a cardboard chart, outlining the "reciprocal tariffs" for each country.
But are the tariffs really reciprocal? And will they really "make America wealthy again", as Trump repeatedly promised?
Here, ITV News fact checks some of Trump's claims.
How did Trump's team calculate the tariffs?
The President has insisted his tariffs are "reciprocal", meaning, in his own words, "they charge us, we charge them."
But the methods the Trump administration used to calculate are not necessarily straightforward.
Essentially, the new tariff for each country is based on its goods trade surplus with the US.
This means that countries which export more products to the US than they import from them, will be charged higher tariffs.
Then, even if there is no surplus, the Trump administration adds an extra charge at the universal baseline of 10%.
But there are extra charges for what Trump called "forms of cheating" - non monetary barriers and currency manipulation.
The formula the White House used to work out the tariffs Credit: White House
These restrictions are things that can add difficulties to selling goods overseas, for example, certificates required on food safety. But exactly how the monetary value of this was calculated, remains undisclosed.
Once they'd reached a number for each importing country, Trump's team then halved the amount of that rate in an act he described as "very kind."
What does that mean for the UK?
When it came to calculating the tariff rate the UK will be subjected to, Trump's reasoning was seemingly simple: "They go 10%... so we'll do the same thing."
While that means the UK escaped relatively lightly, with the minimum rate of 10%, experts still have questions about which factors were taken into account when coming up with this figure.
For example, President Trump had previously said the UK was "out of line" for applying VAT to American products, which he sees as similar to a trade tariff.
But many experts dispute that, because VAT is charged on all domestic consumption, no matter where the object has been produced.
Futhermore, how the UK and the US calculate trade between the countries differs, meaning both countries come up with different numbers.
The US figures include trade with Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man, while the UK does not.
The US claims the UK has a £9 billion goods surplus, but the UK's Office for National Statistics says the UK has a £2.5 billion goods trade deficit.
Has US industry really been "decimated"?
One of the reasons Trump gave for the slew of tariffs was to boost American industries, which he said have faced "vicious attacks...for so many years".
He said the US is "standing up for farmers and ranchers" who have been "brutalised" by nations around the world. He blamed this partly on America's trading partnership with Canada.
The country is one of the US's biggest trading partners, along with Mexico. They weren't included in this latest round of tariffs, but they've already been hit by 25% levies on steel and aluminium, as well as newer taxes on car imports.
But Trump's comments when it comes to farming, and particularly dairy, could be seen as misleading.
"Canada imposes a 250 to 300% tariff on many of our dairy products," Trump said in his speech, "they do the first little carton of milk at a very low price, but after that it gets bad."
"It's not a pretty picture," he said.
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In reality, Canada has guaranteed that tens of thousands of tonnes of imported US milk per year face zero tariffs at all - as part of an agreement made during Trump's first term as President.
Last year, Canada was the second highest importer of US dairy products, worth roughly 1.14 billion US dollars.
Trump also hit out at the EU over non-tariff barriers: "The European Union bans imports of most American poultry."
It is true that the EU and US have had a long-running dispute over imports of poultry treated with chlorine.
Chlorine-washed chicken is banned under EU law, but the US has rallied against these rules, saying they're a ruse by Europe to protect its own producers.
Subscribe free toour weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. Fact-checking Trump's inflation claims
Trump claimed that during Biden's presidency, the US experienced the "highest inflation in the history of our country".
US Inflation did hit 9.1% in June 2022. It marked the highest level in four decades, and followed on from the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as supply chain crunches, as the world geared back up after the coronavirus pandemic.
But it was still well below the record high of 23.7% seen in June 1920, in the wake of the First World War.
And, after the more recent spike, inflation had slowed to 3% by January 2025, the last month of Biden’s term, undermining Trump’s claim further.
It’s also unclear what this new wave of tariffs might mean for prices in the future.
Will the tariffs actually benefit the US?
The Trump administration hopes that the tariffs will usher in a new "golden age" for the American economy. But many economists have warned they might prove disastrous for the global economy, including the US.
Soon after Trump's announcement, US stock market futures began to be sold off sharply in anticipation of the economy weakening, after having already dropped since the start of the year.
A monitor showing U.S. President Donald Trump, the display board with the Dax curve shows falling share prices, in Frankfurt, Germany, Credit: AP
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that tariffs amount to a "tax cut" for the American people, but some economists argue that they are the ones who will end up paying the price.
"US tariffs will approach levels not seen since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which incited a global trade war and deepened the Great Depression," said Scott Lincicome and Colin Grabow of the Cato Institute.
While Trump will hope retailers will swallow the costs imposed by tariffs, economists warn they will actually result in rising costs for the consumer.
That's especially true of products that aren't manufactured in the US, but are now subject to a higher tariff rate.
The makers of Italy's Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, for example, say the new tariffs just mean US consumers will pay more, since the protected designation cheese is not made in the US.
"Putting tariffs on products like ours only increases the price for American consumers, without protecting local producers," said Nicola Bertinelli, president of the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium.
The same is true for other imports including coffee and diamonds, which aren't mass manufactured in the US.
If tariffs do raise costs in the US, it could spark a wave of inflation that will keep interest rates higher for longer.
More expensive borrowing and costlier goods and services could bring about an economic downturn in the US, and have knock-on effects in the UK and across the world.
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