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Trump’s Tariff Date Arrives After a 90-Day Rollercoaster

Brendan Murray and Craig Stirling

Sat, Jul 5, 2025, 3:00 PM 9 min read

That’s when the 90-day reprieve from Trump’s so-called “reciprocal” levies ends, clearing the way for the protectionism he thinks will narrow US trade deficits and spark a manufacturing revival. The wielding of unilateral tariffs is upending a system that for decades encouraged lower barriers to commerce under rules enforced by the World Trade Organization.

The US president isn’t just ripping up the old playbook for trade alliances. Trump’s tariffs will also help fill Treasury coffers at a time when investors are worried about the sustainability of the nation’s debt — particularly after Congress sealed much of the president’s economic agenda in a $3.4 trillion tax cut and spending package.

“The money will start to come into the United States on Aug. 1,” Trump said, referring to the date he’s declared for the start of some new tariffs.

Heading into the final days before the July 9 deadline, negotiators are scrambling to come up with trade pacts.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called trade one of three pillars of Trump’s agenda, which along with tax cuts and deregulation is aimed at unleashing investment, job growth and innovation.

So far, the US economy is holding up, hiring is healthy, and inflation has remained tame. But the Federal Reserve is wary about tariffs despite pressure from Trump to lower rates, and wants to see how they feed through to output in the next few months.

Trump’s second-term rush to overhaul US trade policy has also fueled uncertainty for markets and corporate supply-chain managers trying to game out the effects on production, inventories, hiring, inflation and consumer demand. That sort of routine planning is hard enough without factors like tariffs that are moving forward one day, and potentially gone the next.

What Bloomberg Economics Says:

“It’s likely Trump will seek to escalate his threats against trade partners over the coming days to increase leverage in talks, as he did with Japan.”

—Adam Farrar and Maeva Cousin. For full analysis, click here

Trump is famous for saying that “tariffs” is his favorite word. Yet the economic fallout may blindside a president who incorrectly asserts that trading partners directly pay the customs duties he imposes. In fact, the burden most often falls on American importers, who must contend with tighter profit margins and weigh up whether to raise prices on consumers, seek discounts from their foreign suppliers, or a combination of both.

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