US President Donald Trump on Saturday doubled down on the sweeping tariffs he unleashed on countries around the world, warning Americans of pain ahead, but promising historic investment and prosperity.

The comments came as Trump’s widest-ranging tariffs took effect in a move that could trigger retaliation and escalating trade tensions that could upset the global economy.

“We have been the dumb and helpless ‘whipping post,’ but not any longer. We are bringing back jobs and businesses like never before,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“This is an economic revolution, and we will win,” he added. “Hang tough, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”

A 10 percent “baseline” tariff came into place just after midnight, hitting most US imports except goods from Mexico and Canada as Trump invoked emergency economic powers to address perceived problems with the country’s trade deficits.

The trade gaps, said the White House, were driven by an “absence of reciprocity” in relationships and other policies like “exorbitant value-added taxes.”

Come April 9, around 60 trading partners — including the European Union, Japan and China — are set to face even higher rates tailored to each economy.

Already, Trump’s sharp 34-percent tariff on Chinese goods, set to kick in next week, triggered Beijing’s announcement of its own 34-percent tariff on US products from April 10.

Beijing also said it would sue the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and restrict the export of rare earth elements used in high-end medical and electronics technology.

“China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close,” Trump said in his post. “They, and many other nations, have treated us unsustainably badly.”

But other major trading partners held back as they digested the unfolding international standoff amid fears of a recession.

– Markets collapse –

Wall Street went into free fall Friday, following similar collapses in Asia and Europe.

Economists have also warned that the tariffs could dampen growth and fuel inflation.

Trump’s latest tariffs have notable exclusions, however.

They do not stack onto recently imposed 25-percent tariffs hitting imports of steel, aluminum and automobiles.

Also temporarily spared are copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber, alongside “certain critical minerals” and energy products, the White House said.

But Trump has ordered investigations into copper and lumber, which could lead to further duties soon.

He has threatened to hit other industries like pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as well, meaning any reprieve might be limited.

Canada and Mexico are unaffected by the latest move as they already face separate duties of up to 25 percent on goods entering the United States outside a North America trade agreement.

– Retaliation risk –

While Trump’s staggered deadlines allow space for countries to negotiate, “if they can’t get a reprieve, they are likely to retaliate, as China already has,” Oxford Economics warned this week.

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the bloc, which faces a 20-percent tariff, will act in “a calm, carefully phased, unified way” and allow time for talks.

But he said it “won’t stand idly by.”

France and Germany have said the EU could respond by imposing a tax on US technology companies.

Japan’s prime minister called for a “calm-headed” approach after Trump unveiled 24-percent tariffs on Japanese-made goods.

Meanwhile, Trump said he held a “very productive” call with Vietnam’s top leader, with imports from the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub facing extraordinary 46-percent US duties.

Since returning to the presidency, Trump has hit imports from Canada and Mexico with tariffs over illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling, and imposed an additional 20-percent rate on goods from China.

Come April 9, the added levy on Chinese products this year will reach 54 percent.

Trump’s 25-percent auto tariffs also took effect this week, and Jeep-owner Stellantis has paused production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.

Trump’s new global levies mark “the most sweeping tariff hike since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, the 1930 law best remembered for triggering a global trade war and deepening the Great Depression,” said the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Oxford Economics estimates the action will push the average effective US tariff rate to 24 percent, “higher even than those seen in the 1930s.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal criticized Zepto chief executive Aadit Palicha’s response to Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s comments on Indian startups as “misplaced and illogical”.

Mr Khandelwal, who is also the secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), said the Union Minister raised a genuine concern on the focus areas of Indian startups, and the Zepto CEO missed the essence of Mr Goyal’s comments in being defensive.

“Claiming to create jobs and pay taxes while burning foreign capital to dismantle India’s small neighborhood kirana stores is not innovation. This approach is not aligned with India’s long-term strategic interests,” the BJP MP said.

Mr Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, at the ‘Startup Mahakumbh’ event questioned Indian food delivery startups for turning unemployed people into cheap labour.

“Are we going to be happy being delivery boys and girls? Is that the destiny of India? This is not a startup, this is entrepreneurship. What the other side is doing – robotics, machine learning, 3D manufacturing and next generation factories,” Mr Goyal said on Thursday, showing a slide titled ‘India vs China: The Startup Reality Check’.

Though he admitted some criticism will come his way because of his comments, Mr Goyal said, “I have no objections. We have to be willing to learn, evolve… aspire for bigger and better, we have to be bolder and we should not shy of competition.”

The Union Minister’s comments sparked a huge debate online, with some CEOs finding fault with his assessment about startups in China and India, and others supporting his view about the need for Indian startups to take on bigger, future-oriented, and foundational work.

Among those who pushed back at Mr Goyal’s comment was Mr Palicha, the CEO of the grocery delivery app Zepto. Mr Palicha highlighted what he called the company’s “contributions”, including creating 1.5 lakh jobs, paying annual tax exceeding Rs 1,000 crore, and attracting over $1 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI).

Mr Khandelwal dismissed Mr Palicha’s defence as missing the essence of the Union Minister’s message.

“Innovation must serve the nation, not just convenience. We need startups that solve real problems and build foundational technologies to drive India’s future,” the CAIT general secretary said.

Mr Khandelwal said startups should contribute to India’s technological self-reliance and global leadership, rather than pursuing short-term commercial gains at the expense of traditional businesses.

Big allocation for Deep Tech in Fund of Funds for Startups. #StartupMahakumbh pic.twitter.com/g9FSpvkP5n

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 5, 2025

The Startup Mahakumbh event that began on April 3 ended today. The event was spearheaded by India’s startup ecosystem leaders and led by FICCI in collaboration with ASSOCHAM, IVCA, Nasscom, Bootstrap Foundation, and other industry stakeholders, with support from the National Startup Advisory Council (NSAC), DPIIT, and Startup India.

This year’s theme focussed on the journey and vision of India’s startup ecosystem over the next two decades, aiming to shape a self-reliant, innovative, and Viksit Bharat (developed India) by 2047.

The complainant, Priyanka Mukherjee, alleged that a flight attendant stole the gold chain worth Rs 80,000 from her five-year-old child.