Liberation Day: Wall Street elites got it totally wrong, “you’re fired”
- Tom Pauken II.
- Apr 2
- 5 min read
On April 2, Liberation Day had finally arrived and US President Donald J. Trump delivered his major announcement at the White House Rose Garden. He will raise tariffs on other nations - with 10 percent as minimum baseline - and it would consign with his Executive Order on the Reciprocal Trade Act. Canada and Mexico are not included since they have already signed on to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
President Trump’s method for implementing tariffs was simple. If a sovereign government imposes high tariffs on US imports, Washington will do the same in return. Trump had warned of his actions when delivering his address to a Joint Sessions of US Congress on Capitol Hill earlier this year.
President Trump couldn’t have been more obvious as he said that he will introduce the new round of tariffs on April 2, not April 1, since the fake news media could speculate this was an “April Fool’s Joke.” He warned that these pending tariffs will be high and have a steep impact on the global economy. Yet, the President also explained how the Reciprocal Trade Act works.
Let’s say the European Union imposes a 39 percent rate to include tariffs and VAT (value added tax) on US imports, President Trump will likely place the same exact charges on EU imports. And as the weeks progressed, Trump heralded April 2 as “Liberation Day.”
He has long championed “America First” values to protect American workers and stood eager to boost the US domestic manufacturing industry. By placing high tariffs on foreign imports that injects momentum for foreign companies and investors to open up new factories and to strengthen supply chains inside the US market.
Accordingly, one would have anticipated the so-called experts on Wall Street and globalist elites would have been well prepared to confront this challenge that had awaited them. Even though, they had more than a month to make crucial adjustments to their international business practices and investments, many of them just put their heads in the sand, thinking they could wait out the storms on the near horizon.
Such tactics are silly, but yes indeed many investors, business people and employees had placed their fortunes following bad advice and forecasting from so-called experts that work in Wall Street, Silicon Valley and Brussels. These experts might have told their clients, “don’t worry, President Trump is only bluffing.”
Or the Wall Street power brokers could have told them, “Trump will lose even if he raises tariffs, because the EU, UK, Japan and China will coordinate and fight back. They will force the US President to back down.”
Such statements here are mere speculation and would not suggest that the experts actually made said them when speaking with their peers and clientele. Nonetheless, we can discern that the Wall Street experts were really caught by surprise after President Trump made his announcements on tariffs.
The US stock markets and futures were crashing out in the immediate aftermath. Just review the intra-day charts and the markets were diving like you had never seen before since the days of the Great Depression that started in October 24, 1929 with the New York Stock Exchange crash.
It’s a weird response since the stock traders and investors should have already priced in Trump’s hike on tariffs in the prior month. Additionally, smart investors should have then bought into publicly-shared companies that are expected to benefit from Trump’s trade protectionist actions.
But that never happened, since the self-proclaimed genius analysts on Wall Street were dismissing Liberation Day as if it were a publicity stunt. They ignored clear warnings that President Trump will push ahead with raising tariffs at remarkably high rates.
Additionally, there’s a comment posted on X by an account named, “QE Infinity.”
CNBC, “This is worse than the worst case scenario the market expected”
CNBC is one of the leading global stock markets’ cable news broadcaster and they have reporters with access to Wall Streets’ leading analysts, as well as senior executives at major banks, investment banks, hedge funds, stock brokerage houses and Fortune 500 corporations.
They are closely attuned to the thoughts and sentiments of the rich and powerful in today’s world. One could have concluded that such brilliant people would have never been caught shortsighted by President Trump’s bold announcement on tariffs. But yes, they were standing flat-footed and deserve public shame for not anticipating the inevitable actions taken by the Trump administration.
And in fact, President Trump didn’t enact the worst case scenario. For instance, China places an average-weighted estimated a 69 percent tariff rate on US imports, but the White House will only place a 34 percent tariff rate on the second largest economy in the world, despite China enjoying such massive trade surpluses on China-US trade.
Apparently, the US has placed a current base line of 20 percent on Chinese imports and Trump will add another 34 percent. Therefore, China should anticipate a tariff rate - 54 percent when exporting goods through US Customs, starting on April 6 at latest.
Nevertheless, China’s 54 percent tariff rates is still lower than the 69 percent rate that Beijing charges on US imports. And when reviewing Trump’s new tariff rates, we can recognize that most countries will enjoy a 50 percent discounted rate. South Korea charges 50 % tariffs for US imports, Washington will now impose 25 percent on South Korean imports.
Wall Street got it wrong on Trump. Ordinary investors and companies can’t rely on Wall Street’s golden experts to rescue them anymore. It’s time for them to get fired and to hire a new crop of thought leaders and business people that will emerge stronger and wealthier.
Best be advised to read insightful articles posted on this website, sponsored by the America First Asia Institute and in recent weeks, I have appeared in a daily podcast to explain to viewers that President Trump will raise tariffs on all imports and we should prepare accordingly.
Trump’s Reciprocal Trade Act will wipe out the globalist order and we should expect some turbulence in the US economy in the short-term outlook. Nonetheless, the US economy will rebound one or two years later on and a new wealthy class will rise above the ashes.
(Tom Pauken II., author of US vs. China: From Trade Wars to Reciprocal Deal, AFAI Senior Fellow, Geopolitical Consultant based in Beijing, China)
X: @tmcgregochina
Footnotes
AFAI, ““Liberation Day”: Reclaiming America’s Trade Sovereignty Through Reciprocal Tariffs,”
YouTube, “NGN with Dr Jaleel & Tom March 14, 2025,”
X, “QE Infinity,”
Zero Hedge, “Futures Tumble As President Trump Delivers "Declaration Of Economic Independence",”