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President Donald Trump says new tariffs he is set to announce this week will hit all countries, not just those that have the biggest trade imbalances with the US.
The comments come as he prepares to unveil a massive slate of import taxes on Wednesday, in what he has called America’s “Liberation Day”.
The measures will come on top of tariffs already imposed by Washington on aluminium, steel and vehicles, along with increased levies on all goods from China.
Share markets in Asia fell in early trade on Monday as investors fret over the impact of the tariffs on the global economy.
“You’d start with all countries,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.
“Essentially all of the countries that we’re talking about.”
But he said his administration would be “far more generous” and “kinder” than the countries had been to the US.
The president’s latest comments came despite last week suggesting he might scale back his tariff plans.
White House economics adviser Kevin Hassett also recently told the Fox Business channel that the tariffs would focus on 10 to 15 countries that have the worst trade deficits with the US, but did not name them.
Trump sees tariffs as a way of protecting the US economy from unfair competition and as a bargaining chip for getting better trading terms for America.
Over the weekend Trump’s advisers echoed his view that the planned tariffs could raise trillions of dollars and help create jobs in the US.
His top trade adviser, Pete Navarro, pointed to huge revenues he said the tariffs would raise.
The tax on all car imports could raise $100bn (£77.3bn) on a trade worth $240bn, Mr Navarro said. All the planned tariffs could raise $600bn, about a fifth of the value of total goods imports into the US, he added.
A White House fact sheet published last week suggested a 10% tariff on every import could create nearly 3 million US jobs.
But concerns about a trade war are unsettling markets and creating fears of a recession in the US.
On Monday morning in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark was almost 4% lower, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down by 1.2%, and South Korea’s Kospi was around 2.5% lower.
All of this raises the stakes for all the countries attempting to strike deals with the US over its trade policies, including the UK.
But other jurisdictions, such as the EU and Canada, have already said that they are preparing a range of retaliatory trade measures.
Separately, Trump said a deal with TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the app would be agreed before a deadline on Saturday.
He set the 5 April deadline in January for short video platform to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the US on national security grounds.
It had been due to take effect that month to comply with a law passed under the Biden administration.