Friday Briefing

Trump ordered tariffs that could upend global trade

President Trump yesterday ordered his advisers to calculate new “reciprocal” tariffs that would affect nearly every country around the world. India, Japan and the E.U. could be hit the hardest.

The new tariffs, which could go into effect on or after April 2, would reflect other countries’ tariffs, taxes, subsidies and other policies that affect their trade with the U.S. He made it clear that his ultimate goal was to force companies to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

“If you build here, you’ll have no tariffs whatsoever,” Trump said at the Oval Office.

Hours later, Trump met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. In comments at a news conference, Trump said the U.S. would increase military sales to India by “many billions” of dollars, and Modi announced more collaboration with the U.S. on defense cooperation, as well as the development of semiconductors, quantum technology and A.I.

Context: For decades, U.S. tariff levels have been decided in negotiations at international bodies like the W.T.O. Trump wants to effectively scrap that system in favor of one determined solely by U.S. officials and based on their own criteria.

Quotable: “These tariff proposals amount to a declaration of an all-out trade war against practically all major U.S. trading partners,” said Eswar Prasad, a trade policy professor at Cornell University. “It is stunning and disappointing to see the country that had been the leading proponent of free trade now engaged in a direct assault on the rules and principles underlying that system.”

Ukraine will not be sidelined in peace talks, Trump says

President Trump offered reassurances that Ukraine would be involved in negotiations to end the war with Russia, a day after his remarks had left that prospect in doubt and prompted European leaders to demand that Ukraine play a role in any discussions between Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

“They’re part of it,” Trump told a reporter. “We would have Ukraine, we would have Russia, and we would have other people involved, too.”

On Wednesday, after speaking with Putin, Trump suggested that Ukraine’s borders could be redrawn and its NATO bid could be withheld. Leaders on the continent were left “unhappy about concessions made to Putin that seem to have been granted without any negotiation or recompense,” my colleague Steven Erlanger, our chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe, said.

Some of America’s closest allies, including Britain and Germany, have tried to assert a role in the peace effort. Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, said after a NATO meeting that Europe “will have to live directly” with the consequences of any deal and may have “to play a central or the main role in the peace order.”

“We, as a sovereign country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” Zelensky said. The thaw in U.S.-Russia relations has left Ukraine in a tough spot.

News analysis: Trump and his team have already laid out the new American agenda, with their demands to Europe up front, my colleague David Sanger writes. And in this new era of coercive diplomacy, there are many.

What’s next: Trump said that he might meet Putin in Saudi Arabia for talks. For Putin, the call with Trump was a turning point in the three-year war. Ukrainians expressed a mixture of fear and hope over the idea of peace talks.

Hamas said hostage releases would continue

Hamas said yesterday that it was ready to release Israeli hostages this weekend as long as Israel upheld its end of the cease-fire agreement. Earlier this week, the militant group said it was indefinitely suspending the next release to protest what it described as Israeli violations of the deal. Israel has not yet commented.

Context: During the first six weeks of the truce, Hamas agreed to release at least 33 hostages in exchange for more than 1,500 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. At least 21 hostages and 766 Palestinian prisoners have been freed since the deal went into effect in late January.

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