President Trump announced Monday that he would impose 25% tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea starting on August 1. In letters to the leaders of those major U.S. trading partners, Trump also threatened that any retaliation on their part would be punished with higher tariff rates.
The announcement came amid a flurry of trade-related activity at the White House ahead of a July 9 deadline for the imposition of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff plan, which was announced in April but delayed until this week to give countries time to negotiate trade deals. The delay left a 10% tariff rate temporarily in place instead of the punitively high rates set out by Trump. The White House said Monday that Trump will again delay the deadline for dozens of countries, giving them until August 1 to secure new trade agreements.
The import duties on Japanese and South Korean goods announced Monday are close to the levels defined by Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan.
Trump also announced tariffs on five less significant trading partners: Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos and Myanmar. Those tariff levels are mostly lower than in the reciprocal plan, though still high relative to historical norms. The tariff on goods from Kazakhstan dropped from 27% to 25% relative to the April plan, Laos from 48% to 40%, and Myanmar from 44% to 40%. The tariff on South African imports remained the same at 30%, while the tariff on Malaysian goods rose a percentage point to 25%.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that more announcements should be coming shortly, and toward the end of the day, Trump released letters to the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina (30% tariff), Tunisia (25%), Indonesia (32%), Bangladesh (35%), Serbia (35%), Cambodia (36%) and Thailand (36%).
Declarations over negotiations: The tariff announcements come amid mixed results from the trade negotiations, which, to the extent they exist, have produced little by way of new agreements. In place of complex trade deals, a handful of countries including the U.K. and Vietnam have agreed to general terms for an overall framework, with details to be spelled out later.
Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash over the weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the administration’s track record on trade deals. “Many of these countries never even contacted us,” Bessent said, contradicting Trump’s assertion that the phone was ringing off the hook at the White House as trade partners scrambled to secure new agreements.
In place of negotiated agreements, it appears that Trump is simply declaring what the tariffs will be. Bessent said he expects the White House to send 100 letters to trade partners this week, fulfilling the administration’s pledge to conclude many trade agreements quickly. “That’s the level, that’s the deal, if you want to trade with the United States,” Bessent said.
The Treasury Secretary told CNBC Monday that the letters announcing the unilaterally-imposed U.S. tariff rates would be “pretty standard,” and suggested that countries could continue (or begin) to negotiate in the future. “It’s just, ‘Thank you for wanting to trade with the United States of America. We welcome you as a trading partner. And here’s the rate, unless you want to come back and try to negotiate,’” he said.