President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that "we'll have a straight, simple tariff of anywhere between 15% and 50%." Hiking the baseline reciprocal tariff rate to 15 percent means a 50 percent higher tax on American manufacturers and consumers than Trump originally promised.

US stocks are floating near all-time highs as Wall Street maintains cautious optimism that Washington might ink more trade deals, avoiding a worst-case scenario of extraordinarily high tariffs and enabling the resilient economy to continue chugging along.

President Donald Trump suggested that he could send out rebate checks to U.S. citizens, directly distributing revenue raised from tariffs. When asked if he would consider tariff rebate checks, Trump said he was “thinking about that,

It's a pivotal moment for President Donald Trump's economy as his boldest tariff policies to date are truly about to kick in.

On his own terms, it could now be said that the aggressive approach by the US President is yielding tangible results.

Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, the Asahi newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Japan's embattled prime minister Shigeru Ishiba, fresh off a crushing defeat in upper house elections over the weekend, will not be in a position of strength to negotiate a favorable trade deal with the U.S., analysts said.