Sat, Aug 02, 2025 page9

• Trump unveils worldwide tariffs

  RESHAPING COMMERCE: Major industrialized economies accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger

  • Bloomberg
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  US President Donald Trump has unveiled a slew of new tariffs that boosted the average US rate on goods from across the world, forging ahead with his turbulent effort to reshape international commerce.

  The baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged at 10 percent from the duties Trump imposed in April, easing the worst fears of investors after the president had previously said they could double. Yet his move to raise tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 percent threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship, while nations such as Switzerland and New Zealand also saw increased rates.

  Taken together, the average US tariff rate is to rise to 15.2 percent if rates are implemented as announced, according to Bloomberg Economics. That is up from 13.3 percent earlier and significantly higher than 2.3 percent last year before Trump took office.

  

  Cranes at the Fenix Marine Services terminal at the Port of Los Angeles, California, are pictured on Thursday.

  Photo: AFP

  Most of the tariffs are to take effect after midnight on Thursday next week, to allow time for US Customs and Border Protection to make necessary changes to collect the levies. Trump signed the directive just hours before yesterday’s deadline for higher tariffs to kick in on scores of trading partners.

  Major industrialized economies, including the EU, Japan and South Korea, accepted 15 percent duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger.

  Trump is expected to unveil separate tariffs on imports of pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, critical minerals and other key industrial products in the coming weeks, meaning ongoing uncertainty for companies and investors.

  “The reality is that we’re still going to see higher tariffs than pre-Liberation Day and we’ll start to see some economic impact of that in the months ahead,” said Shane Oliver, a Sydney-based chief investment officer at AMP Ltd. “There’s still uncertainty about China, Mexico has been delayed by another 90 days and details around sectoral tariffs are also yet to come.”

  The announcement brings to a close, at least for now, months of wait-and-see about how Trump would set his nation-based tariffs, which he billed as the centerpiece of his plan to shrink trade deficits and revive manufacturing in the US.

  Trump twice delayed his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, first announced in April, to allow time for negotiations, first after markets panicked and then as foreign governments bargained to get better terms.

  The order was signed behind closed doors without the fanfare of Trump’s April tariff rollout, during which he brandished placards with rates during a Rose Garden event. Since then Trump has faced criticism for promising too much on trade deals after he and aides vowed to broker numerous agreements, with at least one pledging “90 deals in 90 days.”

  In the end, imports from about 40 nations would face the new 15 percent rate and roughly a dozen economies’ products would be hit with higher duties, either because they reached a deal or Trump sent them a letter unilaterally setting import taxes. The latter group has the highest goods-trade surpluses with the US.

  Some of those were expected, such as a 25 percent levy on Indian exports that Trump announced this week on social media. Others included charges of 20 percent on Taiwanese products and 30 percent on South African goods. Thailand and Cambodia, two nations that were said to have struck a last-minute deal, received a 19 percent duty, matching rates imposed on regional neighbors including Indonesia and the Philippines. Vietnam’s goods are to be charged 20 percent.
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