Dozens of countries cop steep tariffs
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 12.01am (EDT) deadline on Friday 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% US 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 United States.
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."
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was disappointed by Trump's decision, and vowed to take action to protect Canadian jobs and diversify the country's export markets.
"While we will continue to negotiate with the United States on our trading relationship, the Canadian government is laser focused on what we can control: building Canada strong," he said in a post on X.
The extension for Mexico avoids a 30% tariff on most Mexican non-automotive and non-metal goods compliant with the US-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 US 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 US would continue to levy a 50% tariff on Mexican steel, aluminium and copper and a 25% tariff on Mexican autos and on non-USMCA-compliant goods subject to tariffs related to the US 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.
INDIA DISCORD
Goods from India appeared to be headed for a 25% tariff after talks bogged down over access to India's agriculture sector, drawing a higher-rate threat from Trump that also included an unspecified penalty for India's purchases of Russian oil.
Although negotiations with India were continuing, New Delhi vowed to protect the country's labour-intensive farm sector, and the threat of higher rates from Trump triggered outrage from the opposition party and a slump in the rupee.
Trump's rollout of higher import taxes comes amid more evidence they have begun driving up consumer goods prices.
Commerce Department data released Thursday showed prices for home furnishings and durable household equipment jumped 1.3% in June, the biggest gain since March 2022.
Recreational goods and vehicles prices shot up 0.9%, the most since February 2024. Prices for clothing and footwear rose 0.4%.
TOUGH QUESTIONS FROM JUDGES
Trump hit Brazil's exports on Wednesday with a steep 50% tariff as he escalated his fight with Latin America's largest economy over its prosecution of his friend and former President Jair Bolsonaro, but softened the blow by excluding sectors such as aircraft, energy and orange juice from heavier levies.
The run-up to Trump's tariff deadline was unfolding as federal appeals court judges sharply questioned Trump's use of a sweeping emergency powers law to justify his sweeping tariffs of up to 50% on nearly all trading partners.
Trump invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare an emergency over the growing US trade deficit and impose his "reciprocal" tariffs and a separate fentanyl emergency.
The Court of International Trade ruled in May that the actions exceeded his executive authority, and questions from judges during oral arguments before the US Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit in Washington indicated further scepticism.
Meanwhile, China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals.
A US official told reporters that they are making progress toward a deal.
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RNZ News
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- RNZ News
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Trump injects new dose of tariffs uncertainty as start date pushed back
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It doesn't feel like we're very close to the end of that process. And that's not for us to judge, but it does — it feels like there's much more to come.'
