Sources told the Washington Post that aides are exploring tariffs only on critical imports from every country, suggesting a potential shift away from Trump’s campaign promise to levy duties across the board of 10% to 20% with China singled out at a 60% rate.

But in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump dismissed the report as “fake news.”

“The story in the Washington Post, quoting so-called anonymous sources, which don’t exist, incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong,” he wrote.

Tariffs were a centerpiece of Trump’s presidential campaign, alongside his plan to crack down on immigration. Ahead of the election, he dubbed himself “tariff man” and called tariffs the “most beautiful word.”

And as recently as Thursday, he extolled the supposed virtues of tariffs even further while commenting on Elon Musk’s social-media platform, X.

“The Tariffs, and Tariffs alone, created this vast wealth for our Country,” Trump wrote. “Then we switched over to Income Tax. We were never so wealthy as during this period. Tariffs will pay off our debt and, MAKE AMERICA WEALTHY AGAIN!”

Sources told the Post that preliminary discussions on tariffs have focused on certain sectors deemed key to national or economic security that would be encouraged to bring back production to the U.S.

They include tariffs on steel, iron, aluminum, and copper that are part of the defense industrial supply chain; critical medical supplies like syringes, needles, vials, and pharmaceutical materials; and energy infrastructure like batteries, rare earth minerals, and solar panels.

“The sector-based universal tariff is a little bit easier for everybody to stomach out the gate. The thought is if you’re going to do universal tariffs, why not at least start with these targeted measures?” one source told the Post. “And it would still give CEOs a massive incentive to start making their products here.”

Despite Trump’s denial, the report raised hopes in financial markets that his tariff agenda will be less aggressive than feared.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of top global currencies, fell 0.6% on Monday. But Treasury yields rose after dipping earlier.

Economists generally view Trump’s tariffs as inflationary, as they would make imported goods more expensive. Top CEOs have already warned that tariffs would translate to price hikes for consumers. And bond yields have surged since the election as the prospect of stickier inflation prevents the Federal Reserve from lowering rates faster. 

Actual impacts on the economy may be more mixed. The Congressional Budget Office said last month that Trump’s tariffs would lift prices by 1% in 2026. But after that, they “would not have additional significant effects.” Tariffs would also cause the dollar to rise, dampening the cost impact on imported goods and making some imported services cheaper. And trade retaliation would shrink foreign demand for some domestically made goods, making them less costly for Americans.

Meanwhile, Michael Pettis, a finance professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, argued recently that tariffs today would have the opposite effect that the disastrous Smoot-Hawley tariffs had in the 1930s. The key difference is that America now has excessively high consumption, while it had low consumption and excess savings nearly a century ago.

“Done under current circumstances, in other words, tariffs could increase employment and wages in the United States, raising living standards and growing the economy,” he wrote in Foreign Affairs late last month.