'That's what they're going to pay': US President Donald Trump planning to double minimum tariffs by up to 20 per cent on nearly all trading partners including Australia
Speaking to reporters in Scotland, Trump said about 200 countries are due to hear from him about their new "world tariff" rate as fears grow for exporters.
"I would say it'll be somewhere in the 15 to 20 per cent range," Trump said, sitting alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
"Probably one of those two numbers.
"We're going to be setting a tariff for, essentially, the rest of the world.
"That's what they're going to pay if they want to do business in the United States, because you can't sit down and make 200 deals."
Trump's blistering tariffs sent shockwaves across the global economy since its announcement on April 2, when it introduced 'reciprocal' levies to deal with "unfair trade practices" inflicted on the United States by other countries.
While Trump initially introduced a minimum 10 per cent levy on all trading partners, that figure has since hiked up to mammoth numbers of up to 50 per cent on some countries - including Brazil - starting on Friday.
Australia is currently subject to a 'baseline' 10% tariff, rather than a higher 'reciprocal' tariff.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been working to negotiate an exemption from the tariffs, but his fragile relationship with the US has raised doubts on whether Australia could find a way out of the strict levies.
No US trading partner has managed to evade Trump's tariffs with the EU also caving into a trade deal of a baseline 15% levy on EU goods imported into the US.
The cascade of tariff orders has begun generating tens of billions of dollars a month in new revenue for the U.S. government.
U.S. customs duties revenue topped $100 billion in the federal fiscal year through to June, according to U.S. Treasury data.
The tariffs have also strained diplomatic relationships with some of the closest U.S. partners.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said earlier that Japan needed to lessen its dependence on the U.S. The fight over tariffs has also prompted Canada and some European allies to reexamine their security dependence on Washington, with some looking to purchase non-U.S. weapons systems.
-With Reuters
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