President Donald Trump told Congress he wanted to begin reciprocal tariffs on April 1 but didn't want people to think it was an April Fool's joke.
Furthermore, he said one day "cost us a lot of money."
Trump made the remarks in his joint address to House and Senate lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night, carried live by Newsmax.
"Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now, it's our turn to start using them against those other countries," Trump said. "This system is not fair to the United States and never was, and so on April 2nd, I wanted to make it April 1st, but I didn't want to be accused of April Fool's Day. Just one day cost us a lot of money. But we're going to do it in April. I'm a very superstitious person. April 2nd, reciprocal tariffs kick in, and whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them.
"We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth, and we will not let that happen any longer," Trump told lawmakers.
"Much has been said over the last three months about Mexico and Canada, but we have very large deficits with both of them. But even more importantly, they have allowed fentanyl to come into our country."
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Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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