From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

Donald Trump announced new tariffs on the world that amount to the biggest attempt to

reorder the world trading system and the American economy in decades.

Global financial markets plunge in response, but the White House says the short-term

pain will be worth the long-term gain. But how bad will that pain be? And will the U.S.

really be better off for imposing what amounts to a $6 trillion tax increase on commerce?

That's our topic for today here on Potomac Watch, the daily podcast of

the Wall Street Journal opinion pages. I'm Paul as you go, the editor of those pages. And I am here

with Joe Sternberg and Alicia Finley, two of my colleagues. So let's listen to Trump on Wednesday

at the White House talk about his new tariffs. This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history.

It's our declaration of economic independence.

For years, hardworking American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense.

But now it's our turn to prosper.

And in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt.

And it'll all happen very quickly.

So what is the president proposing?

First of all, he's proposing 10% tariff on everybody, cross the board on all imported goods

into the United States, no matter where you are in the world.

Then he's going to impose surcharges, in addition to that, on what the White House

calls bad actors, based on what appears to be a fairly

straightforward calculation of the size of the U.S. trade deficit with a country, then divided

by American imports from that country.

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