US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a fresh batch of tariff demand letters, warning that new import duties would take effect in August for trade partners that fail to strike deals with Washington.
Donald Trump outlined a 30% tariff on imports from Algeria, Libya, Iraq, and Sri Lanka – a major industrial rival to the United States, while products from Brunei and Moldova would face a 25% duty, and those from the Philippines a 20% levy.
These rates align closely with those proposed in April, though Iraq's tariff has been lowered from the earlier 39%, and Sri Lanka’s from 44%.
Donald Trump, during a White House meeting with African leaders talked up trade as a diplomatic tool. Trade, he said, “seems to be a foundation” for him to settle disputes between India and Pakistan, as well as Kosovo and Serbia.
“You guys are going to fight, we’re not going to trade,” Trump said. “And we seem to be quite successful in doing that.”
On Monday, Trump placed a 35% tariff on Serbia, one of the countries he was using as an example of how fostering trade can lead to peace.
{{/usCountry}}On Monday, Trump placed a 35% tariff on Serbia, one of the countries he was using as an example of how fostering trade can lead to peace.
{{/usCountry}}Trump said the tariff rates in his letters were based on “common sense” and trade imbalances, adding that he would be sending a letter on Wednesday or Thursday to Brazil. Trump suggested he had not thought of penalizing the countries whose leaders were meeting with him in the Oval Office — Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau — as “these are friends of mine now.”
Similar to Trump's first batch of documents published on Monday, the tariff levels were not too far from those originally threatened in April, although some partners received notably lower rates this time.
While the US president in April imposed a 10% levy on almost all trading partners, he unveiled – and then held off on – higher rates for dozens of economies.
The deadline for these steeper levels to take effect was meant to be Wednesday, before Trump postponed it further to August 1.
Instead, countries that face these threats of elevated duties began receiving letters spelling out US tariff rates on their products.
Trump's latest messages were near-identical to those published earlier in the week, and justified the tariffs as a response to trade ties that have been "unfortunately, far from Reciprocal."
They urged countries to manufacture products in the United States instead in order to avoid duties, while threatening further escalation if leaders retaliated to the levies.
Apart from tariffs targeting goods from different countries, Trump has also rolled out sector-specific duties on steel, aluminium and autos since returning to the White House in January.
On Tuesday, Trump said tariffs were incoming on copper and pharmaceuticals as well.
(With inputs from Reuters, AFP)