Australia will be hit with 10 per cent tariffs after US President Donald Trump announced his plan to slap new taxes against countries he accused of “ripping off America”.

Trump revealed details of his “liberation day” global tariffs plan on Thursday morning (AEDT) in the White House Rose Garden.

He revealed a baseline tariff of 10 per cent against all trading partners, plus extra tariffs as high as 46 per cent against select countries.

Trump said the US had been hit by tariffs from foreign nations and was fighting back.

“For nations that treat us badly, we will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers and other forms of cheating,” he said.

“In other words they charge us, we charge them,” he said.

However, because the US was “kind” it would offer a “discount” on its new tariffs.

Trump held up a chart listing the tariffs charged against the US by 25 nations, and what the US would impose in response.

Top of the list was China, which he said slapped 67 per cent tariffs on America.

“We’re going to be charging a discounted reciprocal tariff of 34 per cent,” he said.

He said the “very tough” European Union would be hit with 20 per cent tariffs in response to its 39 per cent.

“Vietnam … charge us 90 per cent. We’re going to charge them 46 per cent tariff.”

Trump singled out Australia for its “ban on American beef” and its 10 per cent tariff on the US.

“They’re wonderful people, and wonderful everything, but they ban American beef,” he said.

“Yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won’t take any of our beef.

“They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and you know, I don’t blame them but they’re doing the same thing right now starting at midnight tonight.”

Trump lashed out at “foreign scavengers” for looting, pillaging and raping the US.

He said foreign leaders had “stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once-beautiful American dream”.

The world had been collectively waiting for Trump to reveal the details of his new tariffs, which he vowed would be enacted “immediately”.

“In a few moments, I will sign a historic executive order instituting reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world,” he said.

“‘Reciprocal’ — that means they do it to us and we do it to them. Can’t get any simpler than that.”

On the eve of the announcement, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese enlisted the help of Trump’s sometime golfing buddy Greg Norman.

Albanese posted a photo of the pair dining in Melbourne, as he reportedly sought advice from the golfing great on how to deal with Trump.

Australia was anticipating tariffs on its major export beef — and possibly pharmaceuticals — amid warnings that American taxes could push up the price of steak at home.

“Rump steak could hit $56 per kilogram. That’s not dinner — that’s a luxury item,” warned the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, representing independent farmers.

Beef mince could go from $18 a kilo to $36, it said.

‘Negative the world over’

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said the effects of Trump’s tariffs would be “negative..the world over”.

“The density and durability of the impact will vary depending on the scope, on the products targeted and how it lasts,” Lagarde told Ireland’s Newstalk.

Trump for weeks has said his self-described reciprocal tariff plans are a move to equalise generally lower US tariff rates with those charged by other countries and counteract their non-tariff barriers that disadvantage US exports.

But the format of the duties was unclear amid reports that Trump was considering a 20 per cent universal tariff.

A former Trump first-term trade official told Reuters that he was more likely to impose comprehensive tariff rates on individual countries at somewhat lower levels.

The former official said the number of countries facing these duties would likely exceed the approximately 15 countries that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previously said the administration was focused on due to their high trade surpluses with the US.

Bessent told Republican lawmakers on Tuesday that the reciprocal tariffs represented a “cap” of the highest US tariff level that countries would face. They could reduce if nations met the administration’s demands.

In just more than 10 weeks since taking office, Trump has already imposed new 20 per cent duties on all imports from China over fentanyl and fully restored 25 per cent duties on steel and aluminium, extending these to nearly $US150 billion ($239 billion) worth of downstream products.

A month-long reprieve for most Canadian and Mexican goods from his 25 per cent fentanyl-related tariffs is also due to expire.

Administration officials have said that all Trump’s tariffs are stacking, so a Mexican-built car previously charged 2.5 per cent to enter the US would be subject to both the fentanyl tariffs and the autos sectoral tariffs, for a 52.5 per cent tariff rate – plus any reciprocal tariff Trump might impose on Mexican goods.

Growing uncertainty over the duties is eroding investor, consumer and business confidence in ways that could slow activity and drive up prices.

Rattled investors have sold stocks aggressively for more than a month, wiping nearly $US5 trillion off the value of US stocks since mid-February.

Trading partners from the European Union to Canada and Mexico have vowed to respond with retaliatory tariffs and other countermeasures, even as some have sought to negotiate with the White House.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke on Tuesday about Canada’s plan to “fight unjustified trade actions” by the US, Carney’s office said.

US companies say a “buy Canadian” movement is already making it harder for their products to reach that country’s shelves.

Trump has argued that American workers and manufacturers have been hurt for decades by free-trade deals that have lowered barriers to global commerce and fuelled the growth of a $US3 trillion US market for imported goods.

The explosion of imports has come with what Trump sees as a glaring downside: massively imbalanced trade between the US and the world, with a goods trade deficit that exceeds $US1.2 trillion.

Economists warn his tariff remedy will raise prices at home and abroad and hammer the global economy.

-with AAP