Donald Trump has done it again. The man who routinely hypes everything he touches with phrases including, ‘the likes of which have never before been seen,’ ‘the greatest,’ or ‘most powerful,’ just enacted what may be the most colossal tariffs of any U.S. President ever.
Last Wednesday Trump announced nearly a hundred new tariffs on U.S. trading partners—big and small—as he declared April 2nd, a day to be “forever remembered as economic Independence Day.” Trump’s tariffs take effect at midnight, April 9th.
‘Independence Day’ quickly morphed into a two-day economic plunge not seen since the country and world were swept into COVID. The stock market lost nearly 1,700 points on Thursday and another 2,200 the following day. The financial market loss was estimated at $6-plus trillion.
The end of week financial bloodbath earned scathing headlines around the world. “Mindless,” was The Economist headline; The Times of India called them “a mixed bag;” Ireland’s The Journal labeled them as “bleak to say the least.”
The stock market reaction coupled with reciprocal tariffs imposed on the U.S. by China, Canada, the European Union and others, said Metropolitan State University-Denver economist Chandler Reilly, will have consequences, both immediate and others still to be determined.
“I think very quickly we’re going to see higher prices of many goods,” Reilly said. Consumers, he predicted, will almost certainly be paying more for everyday goods. Things people may have been thinking about buying will suddenly be put on hold, including big ticket items. “As people anticipate higher prices, they’re going to hold on their cars,” and countless other items.
Grocery prices for things like avocados and bananas have already begun inching upward. Shoes and sneakers, both manufactured outside the U.S., will also cost more. The “cause and effect,” of higher prices, Reilly explained, results in a dip in demand.
The ‘Independence Day’ shock, reverberated in Colorado almost instantly. The Denver Post reported that the state took a $43.7 billion hit in market value by week’s end.
Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper each decried Trump’s tariffs. Bennet called them “the largest middle-class tax increase in a generation.” Hickenlooper said it more bluntly. “Tariffs are a tax” that consumers, not importers, are forced to pay. The former Denver Mayor and Colorado Governor warned they could “devastate” Colorado business owners. Colorado Governor Jared Polis called the tariffs “damaging” and said they could lead to “more inflation and recession fears.”
The list of products Americans routinely count on is long, but none more important than pharmaceuticals, most of which are imported. They earned exemptions from the tariffs, but that does not mean prices will remain static.
Generic drugs, which make up as much as 90 percent of all prescriptions, have far thinner margins. Chemical ingredients for their manufacture and for nearly all pharmaceuticals are subject to increased tariff costs.
Reciprocal tariffs from Trump’s targeted nations will almost certainly have an impact, particularly on lower-income users. Some projections suggest that generic heart medicine could rise by ten cents per pill. Even generic cancer medications could see major price hikes of several thousand dollars a year. Tariffs, for both drugs and medical equipment, could also result in shortages.
Reaction to Trump’s tariffs have quickly swept across borders with a number of countries countering with their own tariffs. China, for one, quickly imposed the same 34 percent tariffs Trump placed on it on all imported American goods. U.S. tariffs, China said, “seriously undermine China’s legitimate rights and interests,” calling them a “unilateral bullying practice.”
While China’s reaction was more diplomatic than bellicose, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was far more direct in addressing Trump’s economic upper cut. “If you take on one of us,” she said, “you take on all of us,” meaning the entire twenty-seven countries of the European Union.
Mexico escaped Trump’s tariff wrath allowing agricultural products like avocados and other produce, beer and automotive parts to continue crossing the border absent the additional costs. Clothing and electronics from Mexico will also cross over without import duties.
But Canada, the country Trump has derided and tried to entice as potentially America’s 51st state, was anything but subtle in sharing its views on the tariffs and on Trump.
“The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies,” said Prime Minister Mark Carney, “is over.”
Canada and the U.S. share the world’s longest border stretching more than 5,500 miles. It has long been a trusted and valued neighbor and ally. The two nations traded more than $762 billion in 2024. America is Canada’s largest export market for lumber and aluminum. It also sends car parts across the border.
While Trump targeted some of America’s tiniest trading partners like Chad, Mozambique and Zimbabwe—three countries who make up a combined $1.5 billion in annual trade with the U.S.—he did not include Russia, an omission thought more than curious.
“I did notice that” said MSU-D’s Reilly. “I don’t really know the reason why. Maybe we don’t need additional tariffs” beyond those already in place.
The White House explained Russia was not targeted “because sanctions from the Ukraine war have already rendered trade between the two countries as zero.”
