Donald Trump has intensified his push for trade, and announced that the US would raise tariffs on all goods imported from seven different countries starting in August.
Trump posted a series on Truth Social of images from letters he sent to leaders in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. He also shared pictures of the signed letters he had sent to South Africa, Laos Myanmar, Kazakhstan, South Africa.
The letters each detailed new tariffs aimed specifically at the exports of their respective countries to the US.
Imports from Japan and South Korea will be subject to a 25 percent tariff.
South African products will face a 30% tax, while items imported from Laos or Myanmar will have a duty of 40%.
This is expected to increase the price of goods coming from these countries in the US. It could also strain trade relations and change global supply chains.
Trump’s tariff pause nears end
The US is re-evaluating its trading relationships and the new tariffs reflect that.
In April of this year, the President introduced a base 10% tariff for most imports. Certain countries were subject to even higher rates.
After a tough week in the global market, he temporarily reduced all tariffs by 10% to a fixed rate for 90 days. This was to allow negotiations to take place.
The pause in tariffs is over. If the US does not strike individual deals with affected countries to reduce their trade barriers, then the new higher rates will be implemented.
Trump argued in the letters he sent to other leaders that the US trade deficit, which has been a problem for decades, must be addressed with more aggressive measures.
The US had a goods trade deficit of $66 billion with South Korea and $68.5 billion with Japan in 2024.
This administration says that these trade imbalances result from unfair practices, a lack in give and take and new tariffs will push for a more balanced deal.
Trump also slammed the BRICS group and warned that any country aligned with this “anti-American’ grouping would face additional tariffs of up to 10%.
Dow plunges 500 points
Donald Trump’s tariff re-imposition scared investors Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 536, or 1.2%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 dropped by 1%, and the Nasdaq Composite also declined by that margin.
Toyota Motor shares and Honda Motors’ shares dropped by 4 percent after Trump made his announcements. Nvidia’s shares fell slightly, but Apple, Alphabet and AMD all dropped by over 2%.
Tesla’s shares fell 7% on Monday after Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla revealed his plans to launch a political party called “America Party”.
Investors were concerned by the news, believing that Musk’s increased political involvement was hurting Tesla and turning away potential customers.
The stock has been spooked by his actions outside of the company more than once this year.
As new information becomes available, the post Donald Trump extends Tariffs to Five More Countries; Dow Tumbles 500 Points may be updated.
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