Trump imposes 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea in initial round of notifications

Share and Follow

Key Points

Donald Trump has declared tariffs on Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and other countries.
The EU has been spared for now, but faces the threat of 17 per cent tariffs on food and agriculture exports.
Only the UK 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 allies and a dozen other economies to reach trade deals with the US.

Trump also announced the US would impose 25 per cent tariffs on Malaysia and Kazakhstan, 30 per cent on South Africa and 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar.

Meanwhile, Indonesia was hit with a 32 per cent tariff and Cambodia and Thailand 36 per cent.

Bosnia copped 30 per cent, while Bangladesh and Serbia got 35 per cent.

Trump had said on the weekend he would send a first batch of letters to countries informing them he would reimpose harsh levies that were 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 the US 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 he “won’t easily compromise” in trade talks with the US.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters 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.

A woman with blonde hair holds up a document for the press to see.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said besides Japan and South Korea, there would be approximately 12 other trading partners receiving letters from Donald Trump soon. Source: Getty / Andrew Harnik

Leavitt said besides Japan and South Korea, there would be approximately 12 other partners receiving letters from Trump soon.

With the deadline extension, she noted 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.

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 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 said 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 the US and China’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 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 criticised his duties at a summit.

For now, partners are still rushing to avert Trump’s tariffs altogether.

The European Commission said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen had a “good exchange” with Trump on trade when the pair spoke on the weekend.

The EU will not be receiving a letter setting out higher tariffs, EU sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.