A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, on Feb. 3, 2025. U.S. stocks ended lower on Monday, as investors reacted to the Donald Trump administration's planned tariff rollout. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 122.75 points, or 0.28 percent, to 44,421.91. The S&P 500 sank 45.96 points, or 0.76 percent, to 5,994.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 235.49 points, or 1.20 percent, to 19,391.96. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

The US government will give trading partner countries a "reciprocal tariff number" on April 2 that reflects their own rates, non-tariff trade barriers, currency practice and other factors, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly said, providing more details into the sweeping tariff measure US President Donald Trump previously announced. 

Analysts said the new detail shows that the so-called "reciprocal tariff" is "neither fair nor reciprocal," and could be highly susceptible to manipulation by the US government rather than based on globally uniform WTO rules, which further laid bare the move's bullying and hegemonic nature.

While US officials have tried to play down the consequences of the tariffs on US economy and consumers, more and more US companies have been speaking up against the tariff plan. A number of US allies and major trading partners have been criticizing the tariff plan over the past few months, with some staging retaliations, which analysts said provide new evidence that the tariff policy could be backfiring on the US.

"On April 2, each country will receive a number that we believe represents their tariffs … For some countries, it could be quite low, for some countries, it could be quite high," Bessent said, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday (US time). 

Bessent also indicated in the interview that while the proposed duties would be announced on April 2, their implementation could be delayed to allow time for negotiations. But the White House clarified on the same day that the new reciprocal tariff rates are still slated to take effect on April 2, the Reuters report said.

According to another Reuters report on Tuesday, the US Permanent Mission to the WTO told China and Canada it was ready to confer with its officials in Geneva after those two countries filed trade disputes in response to new tariffs, WTO documents showed.

While the US may intent to achieve tariff measure goals through negotiation, analysts pointed out its new tariff details are merely a case of "old wine in a new bottle," exposing Washington's hegemonic and coercive approach that clearly violate WTO rules and basic principles. 

"WTO tariffs are determined through negotiations, and countries have already established a balance of tariffs when they joined. This balance involves reciprocal rights and obligations, not absolute uniformity. So the US' approach of completely disregarding these differences and unilaterally deciding tariff levels is clearly unfair and unreasonable," Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

"The US government is now issuing an 'ultimatum' as part of its strong-arm unilateral trade policy. This 'reciprocal 'tariff plan is questionable in many ways, first is the 'mysterious process' in deciding individual country's tariff rate - which could grant the US administration significant room for arbitrary tariff manipulation," Li Yong, a senior research fellow at the China Association of International Trade, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

For example, the US government could cite such things as labor standards and foreign exchange policies to arbitrarily hike tariffs on a single country, Li said. Also, it could include other unreasonable terms such as forcing other countries to make concession and opening up markets in the tariff negotiation with its trading partners. 

Whether it's a tariff war or a trade war, they invariably start by hurting others before coming back to hurt the one who launched it,"China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on March 10 in response to Bessent's claim that the US wants fair and reciprocal trade ties."

Policy backfiring

According to the Reuters report, Bessent said the reciprocal tariff is designed to protect the US economy, its workers and industries. A New York Times report also quoted him as saying that there was "no reason [the US] need to have a recession" and that the "underlying economy is healthy."

Despite the rhetoric, more and more US companies across a wide range of industries reportedly have been voicing growing concerns on the dire consequence of the tariff plan, warning that the flurry of tariffs could wreak havoc on their supply chains and weigh on their revenue prospect.

An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report forecasted on Monday that Trump's tariff hikes will drag down growth in Canada, Mexico and the US while driving up inflation, according to another Reuters report. It said US households will pay a high direct price from the new import taxes, and the likely economic slowdown will cost the US more than the extra income the tariffs are supposed to generate.

To date, the current US administration has announced a bunch of tariff measures in recent months, with some being implemented in back-and-forth, according to the New York Times. 

Analysts warned that those unilateral trade practices risk embroiling the world into a chaotic trade war.

"It is likely that due to US' unilateral protectionist move, global trade conflicts may escalate, becoming frequent and complex in the looming future, thereby placing enormous pressure on global economic and trade stability," Zhou said.

On Sunday, Trump said that the 25-percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imported into the US that went into effect last week "are here to stay," according to a USA Today report. After those tariffs were imposed, Canada and the EU retaliated with countermeasures on US exports.

The US government also imposed additional tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China in the past months. China launched countermeasures against the US' imposition of additional tariffs on Chinese products, including additional tariffs of up to 15 percent on certain US products.

French President Emmanuel Macron and visiting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday said that fair trade "is a good thing for the prosperity of all," regarding the trade war that US dragged Canada and Europe into, the Xinhua News Agency reported. 

Last week, French Finance Minister Eric Lombard said a trade war between the EU and its US ally would be "idiotic" but that the 27-country bloc would respond in kind to further tariffs, according to a Reuters report.

An analyst also warned that the growing opposition against US' unfair trade practice could backfire on "American First" policy, undercutting US' global influence, credibility and position in the long term. 

Xin Qiang, a professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the US' domineering attitude may prompt its allies to adopt a more cautious stance in dealing with the US, and some will also accelerate their efforts to diversify trade relations to reduce reliance on the US market.