Update on the New Tariffs from the United States of America

Following a 90-day pause after announcing the tariffs, President Trump introduced a new set targeting nearly 14 nations worldwide. This has made the nations realize that trade with the United States would come at a cost. With the baseline tariff of 10 percent is said to be given there is an additional burden added to it, which is mostly an additional burden for the nations to bear.

Many nations have yet to get a trade deal with the US. This has become difficult for the nations as the demands for absolute market penetration seem to be an uncomfortable ask for many nations. The argument of the President is basically to ensure an absolutely level playing field in terms of trade. To add to this, it is one of the ways to ensure the levels of deficits in many nations across the globe.  

The negotiations with many nations have not been smooth, since there are many asks from the negotiating nations for a reasonable tariff rate. This can be explained with the examples of Japan and India, where the negotiations have been tough and no breakthrough in terms of favorable terms has come into play.

With India, the negotiations have been going tough as the US wanted complete access to India’s dairy and agricultural sector. India’s response was not a positive one, as it would affect the domestic market players to a greater extent. This would be unfair to the local producers in the country. India is also under threat from the US on the exports of copper, steel, and aluminum. Adding to this, the association of BRICS, India, is also threatened with higher tariffs. The US president feels that BRICS as a group would threaten the dominance of the US dollar. Though the argument seems to be baseless, as the dollar remains stronger and continues to be used as a base for trade for many nations across the world. Also, the dollar remains a stable currency that can be relied upon for trade.

The trade deals signed so far are the deals with the United Kingdom and China, which are being signed, while the rest of the nations are being handed letters that seem like a dictated stance taken by the US president. As many more trade deals are awaited to be signed before the August 1^st deadline, trade will be one aspect that will be closely looked at by economists across the globe. This, along with the aspect of inflation in the US, will be closely monitored, as there are chances of it spiking as we progress to the rest of the year. One can only hope that it does not create any adverse effects on the trading partners with the United States.

Nations	Tariffs On April 1, 2025	Tariffs in July 2025
Tunisia	28	25
Thailand	36	36
South Korea	25	25
Serbia	37	35
Myanmar	44	40
Malaysia	24	25
Laos	48	40
Kazakhstan	27	25
Japan	24	25
Indonesia	32	32
Cambodia	49	36
Bosnia	35	30
Bangladesh	37	25
South Africa	30	30