The White House whirlwind that led to Trump’s all-out tariff strategy

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—In the final run-up to President Trump’s “Liberation Day" tariff announcement, aides were left with a difficult task. They were struggling to square the president’s seemingly contradictory goals for sweeping new duties.

He wanted them to raise significant revenue for the government, as well as provide a durable signal for companies to invest in the U.S., according to people with knowledge of the discussions. Those goals would align with a permanent, across-the-board tariff. A universal approach would also help prevent companies from avoiding tariffs by shifting production to other countries—a key issue for Trump’s economic team.

But the president also liked the idea of reciprocity, the people said—or charging nations “what they charge us," as Trump has put it publicly. That pointed to individualized tariff rates for nations that could be calibrated according to their tariffs and other economic policies. A senior administration official described a “ping pong match" between universal tariffs or the reciprocal approach.

On one hand, Trump viewed the idea for a universal tariff as simple and easy to explain, this person said. On the other hand, advisers such as National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick argued the American public would understand the tit-for-tat principle underlying a reciprocal approach. In a Monday afternoon meeting with his trade advisers, Trump asked for numbers on every country, a prelude to the chart of tariff rates he displayed in the Rose Garden on Wednesday, the senior administration official said.