Trump's new tariffs will be applied ‘immediately’ after announced

The "Liberation Day" tariffs planned by US President Donald Trump will take effect "immediately" once they are announced Wednesday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.

"My understanding is that the tariff announcement will be tomorrow, they will be effective immediately," Leavitt told reporters Tuesday at the White House.

The spokeswoman's remarks come hours after President Trump said Monday that reciprocal tariffs on April 2, will be "much more generous to other countries than they are to us."

The president added: "We're going to be very nice, relatively speaking."

The Republican announced that on April 2 he will present a tax plan that includes tariffs "for all countries." A necessary measure, according to himself, because the United States has been getting "ripped off by all the countries of the world" for decades.

Also on Monday, Trump said the tariffs will mean "a lot of money for the country" and denied fearing that his partners would move closer to China as a result of the measure. He likewise insisted that a deal on TikTok could be tied to the package, a proposal that Beijing had already rejected last week.

The levies will be in addition to others previously announced against some nations, such as China, and sectors, such as steel and aluminum, as well as imported vehicles (which will take effect this week).

"Wednesday's target is country-based tariffs," Leavitt anticipated days earlier, although she did not rule out the possibility of "sectoral tariffs" in the future.