Trump pledged to liberate the nation from higher prices, and is betting tariffs won’t raise them too high, for too long

For weeks, Donald Trump and his aides sought to brand Wednesday as “liberation day” in America. Many in the US could be forgiven for wondering what exactly they’ve just been liberated from.

After much hype, the president unveiled his plan for a new era in global trade: a blanket 10% tariff on goods imported into the US from Saturday, and higher “reciprocal” tariffs (of up to 49%) on countries taxing US exports from next Wednesday.