Targeted “dirty” countries for “reciprocal” functions

President Donald Trump is about to announce his largest prices for a price to date. And although the main details about them are surrounded by mystery, one thing is clear: some business partners are about to feel much more pain than others.

Trump on Wednesday is expected to unveil “reciprocal prices” against other countries that have their own tasks on American goods, or other policies that the White House considers unjust trade barriers. He excited the date of the kick -off as “Liberation Day” and the American “The Big” of America.

The plan has created significant uncertainty, and many of its main components – including the number of countries affected, how the rate rate of each country is calculated and which nations will be the most difficult – remain unclear.

While Trump presented the new prices as the key to reset the economic relationship of America with the rest of the world, some in his administration have suggested a closer concentration on a handful of choice targets.

The secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, in a commercial interview of the Fox on March 18, distinguished what he called the “Dirty 15”.

It referred to the 15% of nations which explain most of the American commercial volume while imposing high prices and other “non -tariff barriers” on American goods.

Bessent did not appoint these countries.

Kevin Hassett, director of the national economic council of Trump, said in a later interview on the network that the administration is considering from 10 to 15 countries which explain the “whole trade deficit of the billion dollars” in America.

Hassett did not name these countries either. The data from the Commerce Department show that in 2024, the United States had the highest deficit in the negotiation of goods with China, followed by the European Union, Mexico, Vietnam, Ireland, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, Thailand, Italy, Switzerland, Malaysia, Indonesia of Austria and Sweden.

The office of the US trade representative, in a notice of the search for public comments as part of an examination of unfair commercial practices which will be delivered to Trump by Monday, has listed 21 countries in which it is “particularly interested”.

These include many countries in the group of 20, as well as other “savings that have the largest trade deficits in goods with the United States”, according to the opinion.

These are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Coorean, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and Vietnam.

The White House did not respond to the CNBC clarification request on the upcoming prices or the Dirty 15.

Trump scrambled the waters on Sunday when he rejected the idea that only 10 or 15 countries would face reciprocal tasks on Wednesday.

“You would start with all countries,” Trump told journalists on Air Force One, adding that there is “no cut”.

Trump highlighted America’s trade deficits because he maintains that practically all business partners “benefit” from the United States

Many economists say that the United States important more than it exports to many countries is not intrinsically a bad thing, but rather reflects a strong domestic demand of goods which can be obtained at a lower cost elsewhere.

The next import rights will be above a wave of others that Trump has already announced, including general prices on China, steep prices on Canadian and Mexican products which do not comply with an existing trilateral trade agreement, at steel and aluminum prices and, more recently, prices on foreign cars and imports of key parts.

He also said that more prices on specific industries, including pharmaceutical products, were on the way.