Trump presses advisers for tariff escalation ahead of Apr 2, Washington Post reports

President Trump has been unequivocally clear for decades about the need to restore American Greatness. America cannot just be an assembler of foreign-made parts – we must become a manufacturing powerhouse that dominates every step of the supply chain of industries that are critical for our national security and economic interests,

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement to The Independent

After the business with cars, tariffs look inevitable now.”

While there

No. 1, the president is not running for reelection — so where this may have been a political concern in his first term, it’s not a political concern now. ... And No. 2, we’re probably gonna lose the House in the midterms.”

As for political blowback, this person continued

We are the greatest economic team and April 2nd will be a historic day for American workers,

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said

I think it would be a mistake to think next week all of a sudden we’re going to get a bunch of clarity,

said Tom Graff, chief investment officer at financial advisory firm Facet

He goes into the Oval and tells the president whatever he wants to hear,

said the first White House ally, who called Lutnick a “fucking nightmare” and argued he does so without consideration of the economic consequences

I don’t think it’s like no one wants to tell Trump the bad, the hard news,

said one of the outside allies mentioned above

No one knows what the fuck is going on,

said one White House ally close to Trump’s inner circle, granted anonymity to speak freely

We may have sectoral tariffs on April 2, and we may not,

a White House official, granted anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations, said Monday

I think he wants to keep his options open,

Graff added

Peter Navarrowhite House trade adviser

As the movie ‘Drumline’ goes, ‘one band, one sound,

White House senior adviser for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro said in a statement

I may give a lot of countries breaks,

Trump said

The president isn’t looking at it like they are, ... For [him], if the economy tanks, then fine, the economy tanks — because the president truly believes that it will rebound and the countries will give in because they can’t withstand the pressure from the U.S.”

said one of the people close to Trump’s inner circle of the president’s advisers

Mark Carneyprime Minister

I've always loved Canada and we had a very good conversation."

He downplayed a shift in tone regarding Canada following his Friday morning call with Prime Minister Mark Carney, saying

They want to make deals. It's possible if we can get something for the deal, but yeah, I'm certainly open to that. If we can do something where we get something for it,

said Donald Trump

No, probably later. It's a process."

Asked if such deals could happen before April 2, Trump said

Additional tariffs will increase costs on American consumers, lower the total number of vehicles sold inside the U.S. and reduce U.S. auto exports – all before any new manufacturing or jobs are created in this country,

said Alliance for Automotive Innovation John Bozzella in a statement

The Prime Minister informed the President that his government will implement retaliatory tariffs to protect Canadian workers and our economy, following the announcement of additional U.S. trade actions on April 2, 2025,

the Prime Minister’s Office said in a press release

Justin Trudeauformer Prime Minister

This is a very dumb thing to do,

said Trudeau on March 1, directing his remarks at Trump

The leaders agreed to begin comprehensive negotiations about a new economic and security relationship immediately following the election,

the statement said, referring to Canada’s federal election scheduled for April 28.