Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs memorandum signed

On 13 February 2025 President Donald J. Trump signed the presidential memorandum “Reciprocal Trade and Tariffs,” published in the Federal Register on 19 February 2025.¹ Section 3 directs the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the Senior Counselor to the President for Trade and Manufacturing, to “initiate … all necessary actions to investigate the harm to the United States from any non-reciprocal trade arrangements” and “determine the equivalent of a reciprocal tariff with respect to each foreign trading partner.”¹ Within 180 days, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget is to assess fiscal impacts and report in writing to the President.¹ At the Oval Office signing, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said: “Our studies should be all complete by April 1. So, we’ll hand the President the opportunity to start on April 2 if he wants.”²

1. The memorandum invokes no specific tariff statute and imposes no duties. Any operative tariff action would proceed under a separate enabling statute — most commonly the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. § 1702(a)(1)(B), combined with a National Emergencies Act declaration (50 U.S.C. § 1621); § 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, 19 U.S.C. § 1862; § 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. § 2411; § 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. § 2132; or § 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. § 1338.³⁴⁵⁶⁷

2. Section 2 of the memorandum defines the categories of “non-reciprocal” practices to be examined: tariffs imposed on US products; “unfair, discriminatory, or extraterritorial taxes imposed by our trading partners,” including value-added taxes; non-tariff barriers; exchange-rate manipulation; and “any other practice that … imposes any unfair limitation on market access or any structural impediment to fair competition.”¹

3. The investigation outputs are inputs to the report on “proposed remedies”; whether and how those remedies are imposed is contingent on subsequent presidential action under a named statute. The memorandum frames the underlying trade deficits as threatening “economic and national security.” Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, if invoked separately, permits an additional ad valorem surcharge of up to 15 percent for not more than 150 days unless extended by Act of Congress, both under § 2132(a).⁶

Corrections

• 2026-09-24: The post placed the 150-day limit on § 122 surcharges at 19 U.S.C. § 2132(b) and described an extension by joint resolution under § 2132(d). The 15 percent cap, the 150-day limit and extension “by Act of Congress” are all in § 2132(a); § 2132(b) is the national-interest exception and § 2132(d) concerns nondiscriminatory treatment.⁶