WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs on more than 90 countries around the world have come into effect.
Just before the deadline for deals to be agreed to cut or avoid the import taxes, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that billions of Dollars were now flowing into the US due to tariffs.
Trump also threatened a 100 per cent tariff on foreign-made computer chips as he pushes tech firms to invest in the US. It came as Apple announced a new US$100 billion (£75 billion) US investment after coming under pressure from the White House to move more production to America.
Last week, the Trump administration announced a revised list of import taxes on dozens of trading partners and extended a deadline for countries to reach agreements with the US to August 7.
Countries have been racing to strike deals with Washington to lower – or scrap – what Trump calls ‘reciprocal tariffs’.
His trade policies are aimed at reshaping the global trading system, which he sees as treating the US unfairly.
Export-dependent economies in South East Asia were among the hardest-hit by the new tariffs.
Manufacturing-focused Laos and Myanmar faced some of the highest levies at 40 per cent. Some experts said Trump appears to have targeted countries with close trade ties with China.
Stock markets in Asia seemed to take the news in their stride yesterday.
Major share indexes in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and mainland China were a little higher, while markets in India and Australia were lower.
The latest set of tariffs will offer countries some stability after months of chaos, said Economist Bert Hofman from the National University of Singapore.
“This is supposed to be it. Now you can start to analyse the impact of the tariffs.” Some major economies – including the UK, Japan and South Korea – have already reached agreements to get lower tariffs than Trump threatened in April.
The European Union has also struck a framework deal with Washington, in which Brussels has accepted a 15 per cent tariff on goods from the trading bloc.
Switzerland has said it will hold an extraordinary meeting yesterday after its officials were unable to reach a deal with the US.
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