Overview

• Letters signed by President Trump were delivered July 7–8 to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina warning of 25–40% reciprocal tariffs effective August 1 with no further extensions.
• Only China, the United Kingdom and Vietnam have reached limited agreements to avert the new duties ahead of the firm deadline.
• Japan and South Korea have signaled plans to appeal the measures to the World Trade Organization and the European Union is closely monitoring for potential retaliation.
• The administration is deploying hard deadlines and formal notifications as leverage to force bilateral trade deals and reduce the U.S. trade deficit.
• New sectoral threats include a 50% tariff on copper imports and up to 200% on pharmaceutical products to incentivize companies to bring operations stateside.