One year after ‘Liberation Day,’ Trump to pare back metal tariffs under legal pressure

Record ID: 2373239

  • Title: One year after ‘Liberation Day,’ Trump to pare back metal tariffs under legal pressure
  • Date: 2nd April 2026
  • Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (APRIL 2, 2026) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) BROOKINGS, SENIOR FELLOW IN ECONOMIC STUDIES AND DIRECTOR OF TRADE AND ECONOMIC STATECRAFT, KARI HEERMAN, SAYING: "Tariffs are certainly one thing affecting the U.S. economy and the global economy, but for the United States, the part of our economy that is represented by traded goods is quite s
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: IEEPA Liberation Day President Donald Trump U.S. Court of International Trade U.S. Customs and Border Protection U.S. Supreme Court importers refund claims tariff tariff refund system tariffs
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Economic Events,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA00L956202042026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Trump administration is preparing to overhaul its steel and aluminum tariff regime on the one-year anniversary of what President Donald Trump branded “Liberation Day,” part of an effort to simplify a complex system of duties imposed during his renewed push to reshape U.S. trade policy.
    The changes would roll back part of the far‑reaching tariff expansion announced a year ago.
    Details of the new tariff structure could still change and will ultimately be set out in a presidential proclamation expected as early as Thursday, April 2, the sources said.
    A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    The Wall Street Journal first reported the tariff adjustment plans.
    The administration’s move comes exactly one year after Trump marked April 2 as “Liberation Day,” declaring the United States free from what he described as unfair global trade practices.
    Economists say the shifting tariff framework reflects an administration still adjusting after court challenges constrained its use of sweeping emergency powers.
    “The tariffs announced a year ago were very broad and very high,” said Kari Heerman, senior fellow in economic studies and director of trade and economic statecraft at the Brookings Institution. “Over the past year, they have adjusted through fits and starts to cover fewer goods, and the levels applied to different products have come down.”
    Heerman said the Supreme Court’s ruling limiting the president’s emergency tariff authority has pushed the administration to rely on narrower legal tools that remain vulnerable to legal challenges.
    “So they’re using these narrow authorities to try to accomplish an entire change in the trade regime,” she said. “All of these are very likely to be contested in court, and that uncertainty is very costly.”
    One year after Liberation Day, she said, the impact of Trump’s trade strategy continues to unfold unevenly across the U.S. economy and global trading system.
    “I’m not sure what it was a liberation from,” Heerman said. “We liberated ourselves from commitments we made through the multilateral system — but what else, I’m not sure.”
    (Production: Aleksandra Michalska)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register