Donald Trump has announced new duties that will come into force on August 7, six days after expected. The plan requires a 30% rate to different countries that have not signed a commercial agreement in time, while introducing concessions for those who did it.
The new minimum tax for the countries with which the United States maintain a negative commercial balance was set at 15%. About 40 states are subject to this percentage, including Costa Rica, Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia. For the countries with which the United States maintain a positive balance, the duty will be 10%.
The winners
Most countries saw reduced duties compared to the list of April 2. The European Union was one of the last countries to reach a commercial agreement with Washington, which has set the duties on most European products at 15%. South Korea and the United Kingdom have also reached an agreement that has made it possible to set rates on their exports to the United States at 15% and 10% respectively.
Other countries that recorded significant reductions were Cambodia (from 49% to 19%), Lesoteho (from 50% to 15%) and Vietnam (from 46% to 20%).
The losers
On the contrary, three countries not only did not benefit from any reduction, but have also seen their duties increase: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Equatorial Guinea and Switzerland. The United States imposed duties above 30% to most countries with which they did not reach an agreement. Syria (41%), Laos (40%) and Burma (40%) recorded the highest customs taxes. Switzerland follows with 39%.
Not all duties, however, were due to strictly commercial reasons. At the same time as the announcement of the tariff adaptation, the White House also announced a 35% duty on Canadian products, but in this case because it claimed that the nearby country “did not collaborate to stem the constant flow of Fenanyl and other illegal drugs and reacted against the United States for the president’s actions in counteracting this unusual threat”.
In addition to the 10%”universal” duty, Brazil was affected by a further 40%rate, in retaliation for the current trial in the country to the former president Jair Bolsonaro, political ally of the President of the United States.
As for Mexico, Trump spoke to the president Claudia Sheinbaum and announced a new 90 -day extension.
What is going on with China?
Washington and Beijing have reached a temporary agreement on the basis of which the United States reduced duties from 145% to 30%, while China reduced taxes on US goods from 125% to 10%. They also eliminated restrictions on the trade of key assets such as rare and semi -hounding lands.
Both countries are engaged in negotiations to reach a definitive agreement before the expiry of this break on August 12, a deadline that could be extended to facilitate the success of the interviews that “are proceeding well”, according to Trump.
In addition to these global duties, those previously established by Trump on aluminum and steel, which amount to 50%, remain in force, and Trump has confirmed that several products made with copper will receive the same duty at the entry into force of the new taxes, with exceptions such as the cathods exported by Chile.