President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of 25% on US imports from countries that purchase oil from Venezuela.
Trump described the move as a “secondary tariff” aimed at punishing the Latin American country “for numerous reasons”, including allegedly “purposefully” sending gang members to the US.
Separately, Trump suggested he was softening his plans for tariffs on imports from other countries, saying he “may give a lot of countries breaks”.
Markets ended the day higher after the comments, which appeared to confirm reports that he was narrowing the taxes he plans to announce on 2 April.
Trump has previously said he was looking to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on countries around the world, outlining plans for a system whereby “they charge us, we charge them”.
But on Monday he suggested the White House might be “nicer than that” when it came to the new tariff rates.
“We may take less than what they’re charging because they’ve charged us so much, I don’t think they could take it,” he said, while also acknowledging that some countries might be spared from the measures.
Leading share indexes in the US, which have fallen in steeply in recent weeks following Trump’s tariff threats, all rose on Monday.
The S&P 500 closed 1.7% higher, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.2% while the Nasdaq finished 2.2% ahead.
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