Trump Pinches India, Relieves Pakistan
US President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order slapping higher tariffs on dozens of trading partners.
US President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order slapping higher tariffs on dozens of trading partners. The higher import duty rates from 10 percent to 41 percent are set to start in seven days for 69 trading partners.
The duties ranged as high as 41 percent on Syria, 35 percent on many goods from Canada, 50 percent for Brazil, 25 percent for India, 20 percent for Taiwan, and 39 percent for Switzerland. Meanwhile, duties on Pakistan imports have been slashed from 29 percent to 19 percent.
This was alongside various levels of duties reflecting trade deals struck between Washington and major partners like the European Union and Japan. The order said that goods from all other countries not listed in an annex would be subject to a 10 percent US tariff rate.
Trump's order said that some trading partners, "despite having engaged in negotiations, have offered terms that, in my judgment, do not sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship or have failed to align sufficiently with the United States on economic and national-security matters."
Officials from the Trump administration told reporters that more trade deals were yet to be announced as Trump's higher "reciprocal" tariff rates were set to take effect. "We have some deals," the official said. "And I don't want to get ahead of the President of the United States in announcing those deals."
But goods from India appeared to be headed for a 25 percent tariff after talks bogged down over access to India's agriculture sector, drawing a higher-rate threat from Trump that also included an unspecified penalty for India's purchases of Russian oil. Although negotiations with India were continuing, New Delhi vowed to protect the country's labour-intensive farm sector, triggering outrage from the opposition party and a slump in the rupee.
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