Trump declares 25 per cent tariffs on Japan and South Korea in first wave of letters

SBS Australia

07-07-2025

Donald Trump will impose 25 per cent tariffs on Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Kazakhstan.
The European Union has been spared for now, but faces the threat of 17 per cent tariffs on food and agriculture exports.
Only Britain and Vietnam have reached trade deals ahead of the 9 July deadline. United States President Donald Trump has announced tariffs of 25 per cent on Japan and South Korea, stepping up pressure on the two key US allies and a dozen other economies to reach trade deals with Washington. Trump issued similar letters to South Africa, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Kazakhstan, saying he would slap duties on their products ranging from 25 per cent to 40 per cent. The president had said on the weekend that he would send a first batch of letters to countries informing them that he would reimpose harsh levies postponed earlier in April. In near-identically worded letters to Japanese and South Korean leaders, Trump said the tariff hikes came as their trading relationships with Washington were "unfortunately, far from reciprocal".
The tariffs set out in Trump's latest letters are due to take effect at the start of August. He warned of further escalation if the countries involved retaliated against the duties.
Currently, the affected countries have been hit with a 10 per cent levy that Trump imposed on almost all trading partners. But Trump said he was ready to lower the new levels if countries changed their trade policies: "We will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter." Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had earlier said that he "won't easily compromise" in trade talks with Washington.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday that Trump would sign an order later in the day to delay his original 9 July deadline for steeper tariffs to take effect — postponing their imposition to 1 August.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that besides Japan and South Korea, tehre would be approximately 12 other trading partners receiving letters from Trump soon. Source: Getty / Andrew Harnik She added that besides Japan and South Korea, there would be approximately 12 other partners receiving letters from Trump soon. With the deadline extension, Leavitt noted that Trump would set out the "reciprocal tariff rate" for partners in the coming month as negotiations continue. Amid market turmoil, he then suspended the initial tariffs for 90 days, a deadline that would have expired Wednesday without the latest extension. While the Trump administration had signalled hopes of striking dozens of deals by July — at one point boasting of "90 deals in 90 days" — there have been limited results so far. Washington has unveiled pacts with only Britain and Vietnam, while the United States and China agreed to temporarily lower tariff levels on each other's products that had earlier reached three digits .
Asked why Trump opted to start with South Korea, Leavitt said: "It's the President's prerogative, and those are the countries he chose." US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that there would be a number of deals coming up: "We are going to have several announcements in the next 48 hours." "We've had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals," Bessent told CNBC.
He added that he would meet with his Chinese counterpart in the coming weeks.
The two sides have so far held high-level talks in Geneva and London. But Washington and Beijing's pause on tit-for-tat tariffs is due to expire in mid-August. On whether he was disappointed in the number of trade deals achieved so far, Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro maintained that he is "happy with the progress we've had." Trump has also threatened another 10 per cent tariff on countries aligning themselves with the emerging BRICS nations, accusing them of "Anti-American policies" after they slammed his duties at a summit. For now, partners are still rushing to avert Trump's tariffs altogether. The European Commission said that EU chief Ursula von der Leyen had a "good exchange" with Trump on trade when the pair spoke Sunday. The EU will not be receiving a letter setting out higher tariffs, EU sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.