U.S. President Donald Trump slapped steep tariffs on exports from dozens of trading partners including Canada, Brazil, India and Taiwan, pressing ahead with his plans to reorder the global economy ahead of a Friday trade deal deadline.
Trump set rates including a 35% duty on many goods from Canada, 50% for Brazil, 25% for India, 20% for Taiwan and 39% for Switzerland, according to a presidential executive order.
The order, listed higher import duty rates of 10% to 41% starting in seven days for 69 trading partners as the 12:01 a.m. EDT (0401 GMT) deadline approached.
Some of them had reached tariff-reducing deals; others had no opportunity to negotiate with his administration. Trump included an exception for some goods shipped within the coming week.
Goods from all other countries not listed would be subject to a 10% U.S. import tax. Trump had previously said that rate might be higher.
The administration also teased that more trade deals were in the pipeline as it seeks to close trade deficits and boost domestic factories.
Facing a Friday deadline of his making, the Republican president has tapped emergency powers, pressured foreign leaders, and pressed ahead with trade policies that sparked a market sell-off when they were first announced in April.
This time, markets had a more muted reaction. Stocks and equity futures fell modestly in Friday morning trading in Asia.
Trump’s order said that some trading partners, “despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that, in my judgment, do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters.”
Other details are still to come, including on the “rules of origin” that will determine what products might face even higher tariffs.
Trump also said “we have made a few deals today that are excellent deals for the country,” and a U.S. official later told reporters that they were still to be announced.
CANADA, MEXICO
Trump issued a separate order for Canada that raises the rate on Canadian goods subject to fentanyl-related tariffs to 35%, from 25% previously, saying Canada had “failed to cooperate” in curbing illicit narcotics flows into the U.S.
The higher tariffs on Canadian goods contrasted sharply with Trump’s decision to grant Mexico a 90-day reprieve from higher tariffs of 30% on many goods to provide more time to negotiate a broader trade pact.
Trump complained to reporters earlier that Canada had “been very poorly led.” Canada’s government did not immediately comment but it has previously disputed there being any basis for the tariffs.
The extension for Mexico avoids a 30% tariff on most Mexican non-automotive and non-metal goods compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade and came after a Thursday morning call between Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“We avoided the tariff increase announced for tomorrow,” Sheinbaum wrote on X, adding that the Trump call was “very good.”
About 85% of U.S. imports from Mexico comply with the rules of origin outlined in the USMCA, shielding them from 25% tariffs related to fentanyl, according to Mexico’s economy ministry.
Trump said the U.S. would continue to levy a 50% tariff on Mexican steel, aluminum and copper and a 25% tariff on Mexican autos and on non-USMCA-compliant goods subject to tariffs related to the U.S. fentanyl crisis.
“Additionally, Mexico has agreed to immediately terminate its Non Tariff Trade Barriers, of which there were many,” Trump said in a Truth Social post, without providing details.
Trump’s new tariffs as announced in his executive order, external posted on the White House website:
- 10% – Brazil, Falkland Islands, United Kingdom, and all other countries not listed in the executive order
- 15% – Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Costa Rica, Côte d`Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe
- 18% – Nicaragua
- 19% – Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines
- 20% – Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam
- 25% – Brunei, India, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tunisia
- 30% – Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, South Africa
- 35% – Iraq, Serbia
- 39% – Switzerland
- 40% – Laos, Myanmar (Burma)
- 41% – Syria
There are some notable exceptions:
- Canada faces a 35% tariff that kicks in less than an hour’s time, on 1 August
- Mexico faces a 25% fentanyl tariff, 25% cars tariff, and 50% tariff on steel, aluminium, and copper – all which kick in 90 days
- Goods from the European Union face a range of 0% to around 15% tariffs. These rates kick in on 7 August.
See full Executive Order HERE
Source: Reuters
