President Donald Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs are now in place, dealing a thunderous blow to the world economy as he pushes forward efforts to drastically reorder global trade.

Trump’s latest tariffs push levies imposed on China this year to as high as 104%, along with import taxes on roughly 60 trading partners that run trade surpluses with the U.S. That comes after a 10% baseline tariff for most US trading partners took effect Saturday.

The moves raise tariffs to their highest level in more than a century.

China announced retaliatory measures at 7 p.m. Beijing time, raising tariffs on U.S. goods from 34% to 84% from April 10, according to a statement.  

Treasuries extended their selloff, with 30-year yields soaring briefly above 5%, and Asian shares and European shares fell in Wednesday trading. U.S. futures fell sharply after China announced retaliation. Markets had remained volatile throughout the US day Tuesday, rallying as Trump previewed negotiations with South Korea, then reversing as the administration affirmed plans to move ahead with its massive China tariffs.

Asian countries are bearing the brunt of the measures, with Cambodia facing 49% and Vietnam 46%. Imports from the European Union will be taxed at a 20% rate.

“The tariffs are on and the money is pouring in at a level that we’ve never seen before, and it’s going to be great for us. It’s going to be great for other countries. We’ve been ripped off and abused by countries for many years,” Trump said Tuesday at a White House event. 

In the hours before implementation — at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday in Washington — the White House insisted the duties were indeed coming, squelching market speculation for any last-minute reprieve. 

U.S. levies on China now include previous 20% levies tied to fentanyl trafficking, a 34% “reciprocal” tariff derived from a calculation based on the bilateral trade balance, and an additional 50% duty Trump announced after Beijing said it would respond by taxing U.S. exports to China. 

The president welcomed appeals from U.S. allies who want him to lower their rates, saying Tuesday that teams from Japan and South Korea were en route to hammer out agreements. Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week for talks, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will travel to Washington next week. 

“We’re doing very well in making, I call them tailored deals, not off-the-rack,” Trump said. “It’s been amazing what’s happened. Sometimes you have to mix it up a little bit.”

Still, risks to the world economy abound with Trump’s approach.

China has been defiant in the face of Trump’s tariffs, declaring plans to “fight to the end.” The escalation in tensions makes any imminent call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping less likely and the latest comments raised the risk of a prolonged trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Xi’s No. 2, Li Qiang, said his country has ample policy tools to “fully offset” any negative external shocks in the wake of Trump’s tariffs.  

Other economic powers are striking back as well. In Canada, a 25% counter-tariff to the auto tariffs Trump imposed on his northern neighbor last week also took effect a minute after midnight. In Europe, both France and Germany are pushing for a tougher response. 

The White House has been on defense since last week when Trump unveiled his latest tariff plan. Trump argues that the taxes will boost U.S. prosperity and revive domestic manufacturing, but his approach has drawn criticism from Wall Street, economists and some in Trump’s own party, who have questioned the administration’s methodology and warned of an economic fallout that could include higher consumer prices and slower growth, if not a recession.

“Whose throat do I get to choke if this proves to be wrong?” Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican facing a competitive reelection race next year, asked during a congressional hearing Tuesday. He was one of a number of lawmakers voicing anxiety as constituents see their retirement funds fluctuate.

Speaking to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Tillis also asked if voters will feel results from the tariffs in about a year. “I wish you well, but I am skeptical,” he said.

Greer told lawmakers: “We will have the president’s plan going into effect and we’re coupling that with immediate negotiations with our partners.”

Since Trump’s announcement, the administration has offered mixed messages on the path forward. Some have said the tariffs will unlock talks that see other countries lower barriers on U.S. exports, and perhaps result in Trump reducing his rates as well. But White House trade advisor Peter Navarro has repeatedly pushed back on the notion Trump is merely using tariffs as a negotiating tool. 

For Trump, who has long argued for tariffs as a solution for his trade grievances, this plan will reassert U.S. power, revive domestic manufacturing and extract geopolitical concessions.

Urgent diplomacy

Affected nations were rushing to win better terms and weighing their responses ahead of the April 9 deadline, while grappling with a process that many described as chaotic and opaque.

A top Vietnamese official visited Washington for last-minute meetings seeking to blunt one of the highest tariff rates applied on any U.S. partner. The nation has been engaging in urgent diplomacy and its representatives have conveyed to Trump administration officials that it is working to address a trade imbalance.

Trump said Tuesday he spoke with the South Korean interim leader Han Duck-soo “about their tremendous and unsustainable Surplus, Tariffs, Shipbuilding” and “large scale purchase” of U.S. liquid natural gas. He also discussed “their joint venture in an Alaska Pipeline, and payment for the big time Military Protection we provide to South Korea.” 

The U.S. president described the discussion as a “great call” and posted on social media that “things are looking good.” South Korea said it’s seeking to cut a “big” trade deal with Washington, and that top commerce officials from both sides will handle detailed negotiations.

Japan sent senior officials to Washington to lay the groundwork for tariff negotiations, following a call on Monday between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. On Wednesday, ministers kept urging the U.S. to review its tariffs while a plunge in stocks and bonds prompted officials from the central bank and the finance ministry to hold a meeting to soothe frayed nerves.

EU officials were working on next steps after the U.S. president rejected a proposal to drop tariffs on bilateral trade in industrial goods, saying Monday that it was not enough to reset the trading relationship. 

Wall Street

A series of Wall Street executives criticized the plan this week, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who in his annual shareholder letter Monday called for a quick resolution to trade policy uncertainty and warned against a potentially “disastrous” fragmentation of America’s long-term economic alliances.

Also expressing concerns in a litany of social media posts was Bill Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management and a Trump supporter. He later said he was supportive of the tariff strategy, but called for a pause before the reciprocal duties took effect.

While Trump’s aides have offered a chorus of support for the tariffs, some tensions among his team have started to show. Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, who advises Trump, called Navarro a “moron” in a social media post after Navarro called him a “car assembler” rather than a car manufacturer. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the clash, saying “boys will be boys.”

Trump, undaunted, is planning more. 

Long-promised tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs will be announced “very shortly,” he told Republicans in Washington Tuesday. Other threatened sectoral tariffs include on lumber and semiconductor chips. 

And Trump is set to further escalate his trade war with China in the coming months, with the White House announcing late Tuesday a plan to increase planned tariffs even further on small parcels from mainland China and Hong Kong that had previously been exempt from taxes.

All of this, the president and his administration have repeatedly promised, will lead to a future boom, both economically for the U.S. and politically for his party.

“We’re going to win the midterm elections, and we’re going to have a tremendous, thundering landslide,” Trump told Republican lawmakers and donors Tuesday. “I really believe that.”

Iowa passed legislation creating an additional pathway to CPA licensure.

Under the new pathway, CPA candidates will be eligible for licensure upon completing a bachelor’s degree with the required accounting coursework, two years of relevant accounting work experience and completion of the CPA exam. The legislation also ensures practice mobility to allow out-of-state CPAs to operate in Iowa. 

The bill, backed by the Iowa Society of CPAs, passed both chambers of the Iowa Legislature with a unanimous Senate vote and now awaits Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signature. If signed into law, the changes will be effective July 1, 2026.

Rachel Mummey/Bloomberg

Iowa’s two existing licensure pathways will remain: a bachelor’s degree plus a master’s degree in accounting and one year of work experience, or a bachelor’s degree with the required accounting coursework plus 30 additional college credits and one year of work experience. Both paths require passing the CPA exam.

“This legislation reflects a forward-thinking approach to licensure that preserves the integrity of the CPA while opening the door to more aspiring professionals,” ISCPA interim CEO Ardis Kelley said in a statement. “At a time when the profession is experiencing a decline of new licensees and increase in retirements, this is a much-needed step to attract new talent.”

Various state CPA societies and state boards of accountancy are pushing for alternative paths to a CPA license to alleviate the shortage of accountants. Georgia passed a bill to create additional pathways to licensure on Monday. Ohio passed CPA licensing changes in January, and Virginia passed changes in February.

“We are thrilled Iowa is leading the way on these critical changes,” Kelley added. “CPAs are essential to the financial well-being of businesses, government agencies and nonprofits. Removing unnecessary hurdles while maintaining high professional standards will help ensure our communities continue to benefit from a strong, thriving CPA profession.”

Big Four firms Deloitte and PwC, and business software provider Intuit, each announced separate deals with Google to access the tech company’s cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence capacities. 

Intuit today announced a new collaboration with Google Cloud to expand support for common tax forms. Specifically, the company will be integrating Google Cloud Document AI technology as well as Google Gemini-based AI models into Intuit’s GenOS AI architecture. 

This will allow Intuit to expand the number of forms it can support with AI. Specifically, AI can now automatically populate the 1099-B, 1099-COMP, 1099-OID and Form 1040 along with Schedules 1, 2, 3, A, C and E, which can all vary in complexity. 

Intuit highlighted in particular the ability of the AI to now automatically extract data for stock, bond and crypto investors. The changes mean no longer needing to spend time navigating multiple screens per document and filling in 10 fields (depending on the number of transactions per brokerage), or manually transcribing data from multiple brokerage forms (which can vary significantly by format, verbiage, etc.) when preparing taxes.

“This tax season, we’re delivering on Intuit’s promise to millions of TurboTax customers to do the hard work for them—so they don’t have to,” said Intuit chief technology officer Alex Balazs. “Our collaboration with Google Cloud is making a big difference in the day-to-day lives of consumers this tax season. It’s a shining example of how we’re harnessing the power of Intuit’s AI, data and tax domain expertise—with world-class Google Doc AI and Gemini technology—on our GenOS to deliver breakthrough done-for-you experiences at scale. I’m fired up about our results to date, and excited about what the future holds.”

Deloitte

Big Four firm Deloitte announced it is expanding its already existing partnership with Google Cloud and AI business solutions provider Service Now in order to increase its own AI capabilities. As part of this expansion, Deloitte is introducing a suite of over 100 ready-to-deploy agents powered by Google’s Gemini models and Agentspace.

These agents are designed for a broad range of tasks across various industries and business functions, including customer service, procurement, technical, marketing, sales, legal and human resources. Industry-specific agents are also available for health care, consumer and financial services. The new agents include a contract redlining agent that can understand legal jargon when reviewing contracts and provide AI-powered insights and recommendations on how to optimize. A credit loan automation agent can auto-populate loan and credit documents with curated data and intelligence reports. A data transformation agent automates multiple steps in data engineering workflows, such as producing optimized BigQuery code or developing test cases.

“Clients are getting flooded with information about agents, and while they are interested, they often don’t know where to begin. That’s where we come in,” said Jason Salzetti, chair and CEO of Deloitte Consulting. “This is our largest investment yet with Google Cloud to provide a clear, structured path for businesses to adopt and scale agentic AI. With collaborations like Google Cloud and ServiceNow, we aim to be a one-stop-shop for clients to reimagine their operations, driving innovation and enhancing productivity across their entire enterprise platforms.”

Deloitte is also partnering with Google Cloud and ServiceNow to advance a new standard for AI agent interoperability, A2A, which will enable agents on any platform to securely interact, exchange information and coordinate actions. Deloitte and ServiceNow are already using this protocol on Google Cloud to build a unified agentic experience for field management. Organizations can resolve customer queries about late orders with integrated AI agents working across Google Cloud and ServiceNow. These AI agents will pull customer data from multiple sources like CRM, procurement and logistics to provide a unified view and recommendations.

PwC

On Monday, Big Four firm PwC announced its own collaboration with Google Cloud as part of a multiyear agreement to advance tax compliance services. Broadly, the collaboration will involve joint programs, such as recurring regional events, to proactively find and produce solutions to common client challenges.

Specifically, the collaboration builds on the existing Tax Control Centre collaboration — now known as Data Controls Engine — which provides real-time visibility into tax and finance data quality via control checks, exceptions testing and reconciliations. As part of the deal, the Data Controls Engine will feature a brand new AI agent from PwC for tax, focused on exception validation. This agent is underpinned by a suite of client-determined procedures that are tiered in accordance with their risk and materiality. Further, PwC will work with Google Cloud to embed a specific systematic set of agreed-upon tax data procedures to provide clients with a structured way of obtaining assurance over the quality, completeness and accuracy of not only their existing data but the broader data sets that are needed for new areas of compliance. 

“We are pleased to announce our  alliance with Google Cloud, which represents a significant step forward in transforming tax compliance services for our clients globally,” said Brad Silver, head of global tax and legal services for PwC, in a statement. “By leveraging Google Cloud’s cutting-edge technology and PwC’s deep knowledge in tax, risk and regulatory matters, we are confident that this collaboration will deliver unparalleled efficiency and innovation. Our joint efforts will empower clients with advanced tax data controls, seamless compliance solutions and a structured approach to ensuring the quality and accuracy of tax data using innovative AI and agentic AI capabilities.”