Since President Trump took office in January 2025, the retail industry has experienced more than a little turmoil.
A tidal wave of turmoil and outright panic has ensued in response to the administration’s tariff threats, announcements, statements, and policy decisions.
Recognizing the potential of tariffs to impact the retail customer experience—from product browsing to online e-commerce ordering—RetailCustomerExperience has compiled a timeline of tariff decisions as part of its coverage of consumer reactions, the actions of retailers large and small, and expert opinions on their actions and inactions. The timeline will be updated as new tariff decisions make headlines.
January 20, 2025
Just hours after being sworn in, President Donald Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada. Six days later, he announced tariffs on goods from Colombia, but then backtracked and suspended the tariff threat.
February 1, 2025
President Trump issued a 25 percent tariff waiver on most goods from Canada and Mexico, and a 10 percent tariff on China. China immediately responded by threatening retaliation.
February 3
President Trump suspended the initial tariffs on Mexico and Canada for 30 days, but mentioned tariffs against Europe. One day later, the 10 percent tariffs against China went into effect, and China responded with its own tariff declarations. Less than two weeks later, a tariff plan for trading partners and tariffs on foreign cars followed.
March 4, 2025
The tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China went into effect. One day later, President Trump suspended tariffs on automobiles, and two days later, the tariffs on Mexico and Canada were suspended. Reciprocal tariffs for US trading partners remained in place.
China imposed tariffs on US agricultural products on March 10, and Ontario, Canada, announced a 25% surcharge on electricity for three US states.
April 2, 2025
President Trump imposed a 10% tariff on all countries importing into the US. China responded with a 34% tariff on US imports, and Vietnam immediately asked the US to lift its 46% export tariff.
April 9, 2025
At this time, Chinese goods were subject to a 104% tariff, European goods to a 20% import tax, and Japanese goods to a 24% tariff. China then imposed an additional 50% tariff on US goods, and the European Union imposed new tariffs on the US.
President Trump reversed course, suspending the tariffs for three months and announcing a universal 10% tariff that did not include China. Instead, he increased the Chinese tariff by 125%, bringing the total to 145%. China responded by imposing a 125% tariff on US goods.
April 23, 2025
A dozen states have sued Trump over the tariffs. They claim that decisions regarding tariffs are in the hands of Congress. They want the court to prevent Trump from enforcing what they call “unlawful” tariffs.
April 29, 2025
President Trump stayed the course on planned tariffs on automobiles, amending the original 25 percent tariffs. Currently, the 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts remain in place, but automakers will not have to pay additional tariffs on steel and aluminum.
April 30, 2025
In response to questions at the conclusion of a Cabinet meeting, President Trump acknowledged that the tariff war with China could impact retail shelves. “You know, somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open,'” Trump said, according to a New York Times report. “Well, maybe the kids will get two dolls instead of 30? And maybe the two dolls will cost a few dollars more than they normally would.”
May 4, 2025
According to a Guardian report, President Trump also announced a 100 percent tariff on films produced outside the US.
In an interview with “Meet the Press,” President Trump said he would not permanently remove tariffs from the table. “No, I wouldn’t, because if somebody thought they were going to go away, why would they build in the U.S.?” he said.
May 5, 2025
President Trump told NBC that Chinese imports to the U.S. would eventually be reduced. “At some point, I’m going to reduce them, because otherwise, you could never do business with them,” he said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker,” recorded on May 2. “They’re desperate to do business… their economy is collapsing.”
According to a New York Times report, consumers face an average effective tariff of 28 percent, the highest since 1901. The report cited Yale University’s Budget Lab for its figure.
Toymaker Mattel announced it would raise prices due to the 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports.
May 8, 2025
President Trump announces a reduction in import tariffs on a certain number of British cars and allows duty-free imports of certain steel and aluminum products. The UK-US agreement continues to impose a 10% tariff on most goods from the UK.
May 9, 2025
President Donald Trump indicated that he might be willing to reduce tariffs on China to 80 percent. “An 80 percent tariff on China seems reasonable! Except for Scott B,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, according to a CNBC report. “Scott B” refers to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The 80 percent tariff represents a significant decrease from the 145 percent tariff announced on April 9.
May 12, 2025
The United States and China have agreed to reduce tariffs on each other’s goods by 115 percentage points for an initial period of 90 days, according to a White House statement. The tariff adjustments will take effect by May 14. The 20 percent fentanyl tariffs on China imposed by President Trump in February and March will remain in place. This means the United States will temporarily reduce its overall tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 percent to 30 percent, while China will reduce its tariffs on American imports from 125 percent to 10 percent.
May 17, 2025
President Donald Trump announces that trade tariffs are progressing too slowly. 150 countries want to reach a new agreement. He will therefore give them a few more weeks and then impose new, higher tariffs by letter. According to a CNN report, he said: “We will be very fair.”
May 23, 2025
President Donald Trump announces that he will impose a 50 percent tariff on all EU imports to the US starting June 1. In a post on his social media, Trump explained that the decision was due to a delay in his fight for concessions from the EU. On April 2, the US had already imposed a 20 percent tariff on most EU goods, but it was halved a week later. Negotiations with the EU were scheduled to last until July 8.
On the same day, Trump announced that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on Apple on all iPhones not manufactured but sold in the US if the company does not begin relocating production to the US. He made this announcement in a post on his social media. “I informed Apple’s Tim Cook long ago that I expect iPhones sold in the United States to be manufactured and built in the United States, not in India or elsewhere,” he wrote. “If they aren’t, Apple will have to pay a tariff of at least 25 percent to the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
May 25, 2025
President Trump postpones the imposition of 50 percent tariffs on all EU imports until July 9 to buy more time to negotiate a trade deal. On May 23, he threatened to impose the tariffs as early as June 1 if no agreement was reached within a week. The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, said the talks would proceed “swiftly and decisively.”
May 28, 2025
A New York federal court ruled that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he declared a national emergency to impose tariffs on imports from nearly every country in the world. The ruling gives the White House up to ten days to lift the imposed tariffs. The Trump administration filed an appeal the same day.
May 29, 2025
A federal appeals court temporarily reinstates most of the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit announced it has stayed the case to consider the government’s appeal. Plaintiffs have until June 5 to respond, and the government has until June 9 to respond.
May 30, 2025
President Donald Trump announced he will double tariffs on steel imports to 50 percent. The measure also applies to imported aluminum and takes effect on June 4.
June 3, 2025
A federal judge extended the stay of a court order invalidating most of the tariffs imposed until an appeals court decides the case.
June 11, 2025
President Donald Trump announced that his administration would send letters to US trading partners in the coming weeks to formally establish new tariff terms. “At some point, we’ll just send letters. And I think you understand that when you say, ‘This is the deal, you can take it or you can reject it,'” he said. On May 25, Trump postponed a 50 percent tariff on all EU imports until July 9.
June 12, 2025
President Donald Trump announced that the US would impose a 55 percent tariff on Chinese goods, while Beijing would impose a 10 percent tariff on US goods. He also stated that China would continue to export magnets and rare earth elements, while the US would continue to allow Chinese students to study in the US.
June 27, 2025
President Trump announced that the US would immediately suspend all trade talks with Canada. The reason for this is the planned introduction of a digital tax that will affect US technology giants. The three percent digital tax in Canada came into effect last year, and the first payments are due next week. Because the tax is retroactive, US companies will have to pay approximately $2.7 billion. President Trump called the Canadian taxes a “blatant attack” and announced that he would notify Canada within the next seven days how much it “must pay for doing business with the United States of America.”
June 29, 2025
Canada repealed the digital tax two days after President Donald Trump announced that he would break off all trade talks with Canada because Canada wanted to impose the digital tax for one year. Canada and the US want to resume trade negotiations and are aiming for an agreement by July 21. Canada is the US’s second-largest trading partner after Mexico and the largest buyer of American exports.
June 30
President Donald Trump threatened higher tariffs on Japanese exports to the US because Japan was unwilling to buy American rice. “They don’t want to take our rice, yet they have a massive rice shortage. In other words, we’ll just write them a letter and look forward to having them as a trading partner for many years to come,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
July 7, 2025
President Donald Trump published 14 letters online to countries warning them of the imposition of tariffs. These countries face tariffs of at least 25 percent starting August 1 if no agreement is reached by then. The countries that received letters included Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Laos, Myanmar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Tunisia, and Thailand.
July 9, 2025
President Donald Trump announced he was considering imposing tariffs of up to 200 percent on pharmaceuticals imported into the United States. However, these tariffs would not take effect for a year or 18 months to give drugmakers time to bring their production back to the United States. Trump also sent letters imposing new U.S. tariffs on imports from at least seven other countries, including the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Iraq, Libya, and Sri Lanka.
In addition, Trump announced he would impose 50 percent tariffs on imports from Brazil, one of the countries he had announced tariffs on the previous day. He also announced a 50 percent tariff on copper starting August 1.
July 12, 2025
President Trump announced a 30 percent tariff on goods from the European Union and Mexico starting August 1. He explained this in letters posted on social media. If the two countries increase their tariffs in retaliation, this tariff would be in addition to the 30 percent mentioned by Trump in the letters.
July 28, 2025
President Donald Trump announced an agreement with the EU that imposes 15 percent tariffs on most goods entering the United States from Europe. The tariff is only half the originally announced tariff rate.