(March 26): US President Donald Trump said he plans to limit exceptions to his tariff push, the latest cryptic hint about a planned April 2 announcement of reciprocal duties on global trading partners. 

US trading partners have raced to secure carve-outs ahead from the levies Trump has placed at the center of his economic agenda, but the president indicated that they would be tough to secure.

“I know there are some exceptions, and it’s an ongoing discussion, but not too many, not too many exceptions,” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax. “No, I don’t want to have too many exceptions.”

Trump has promised a sweeping tariff announcement on April 2, touting it as a “Liberation Day” against trading partners he has long accused of “ripping off” the US. The date is to be headlined by reciprocal levies for countries that impose their own tariffs on US goods, though the exact size, scope and method of those tariffs have not yet been disclosed.

Trump has previously said his reciprocal tariffs will be weighted to offset other countries’ non-tariff barriers as well. Yet the president has also said in recent days that his upcoming moves won’t be an exact tit-for-tat response, and he may give certain countries exemptions or reductions.

Trump said on Monday at the White House that he “may give a lot of countries breaks”. His back-and-forth comments on his tariff plans have sown confusion among investors and businesses. 

The suggestion of exemptions has sent countries rushing to offer concessions and play up their trade relationships with the US.

“I will probably be more lenient than reciprocal, because if I was reciprocal, that would be that would be very tough for people,” Trump reiterated. 

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