Trump admin narrows scope of April 2 reciprocal tariffs, targets ‘dirty 15’ countries: report

The White House is now reportedly focusing on applying tariffs to approximately 15 percent of countries with trade imbalances with the US, the “dirty 15,” as described by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week. Those countries account for most of the US’s foreign trade. The countries expected to be included are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Vietnam, and others, per the Wall Street Journal.

“It’s 15 percent of the countries, but it’s a huge amount of our trading volume,” Bessent said at the time.

According to Bloomberg, planned sector-specific tariffs, such as automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors will likely not be announced that day, but a more targeted approach will take place. Trump previously granted automakers a reprieve from tariffs on Canada and Mexico, before pausing those levies for all products that comply with the USMCA (US-Mexico Canada Agreement) trade agreement.

The targeting of the “dirty 15” is still narrower than originally planned after President Trump ordered federal agencies to plan reciprocal tariffs in February, during an evaluation of almost every US trading partner. The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration had previously considered grouping trading partners into three tiers of high, medium, and low tariffs, but went in favor of assigning each targeted nation an individualized tariff number.

Leaders of Canada and Mexico were previously told there was no way to avoid reciprocal tariffs before April 2, but now the future of tariffs on those countries that Trump has imposed to reduce fentanyl and human trafficking is uncertain.