Bessent Sees Reciprocal-Duty Focus on ‘Dirty 15’ Trade Partners

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that as the Trump administration imposes specific reciprocal-tariff rates on US trading partners, there’ll be a focus on particular nations deemed most responsible for unfair commercial practices.

“What’s going to happen on April 2: Each country will receive a number that we believe that represents their tariffs” in effect against the US, Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo Tuesday. “For some countries it could be quite low. For some countries it could be quite high.”

President Donald Trump has called the reciprocal-tariff initiative “the big one,” and indicated the effort will ...