Washington DC - US President Donald Trump is planning a wave of tariffs on April 2 that could be more targeted than expected, a White House official told AFP Monday – a move that would reassure businesses and investors.

Trump has dubbed the date "Liberation Day" for the world's biggest economy, promising reciprocal tariffs set to hit both friend and foe in an effort to remedy practices that Washington deems unfair.

Apart from reciprocal levies, the president also earlier signaled that sector-specific duties hitting industries like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors would come around the same day.

But the eventual plan could shape up to be narrower.

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Sector-specific tariffs "may or may not happen April 2," a White House official told AFP, adding that the situation is "still fluid."

But the official added that reciprocal tariffs were still going to take place.

The White House has vowed to impose "big tariffs" on April 2 in a major escalation of Trump's trade war, saying that "America has been ripped off by every country around the world."

Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo that Washington would go to trading partners with an indication of where tariff levels and non-tariff barriers are.

If countries stopped their practices, Bessent added, they could potentially avoid the "tariff wall."

In the same interview, Bessent noted that the levies would be focused on about 15% of countries who have trade imbalances with the US, dubbing these a "dirty 15."