President Trump said that the White House will notify countries of new tariff standards within the next five days, with rates ranging from a minimum of 10% to a maximum of 70%. The United States had previously suspended reciprocal tariffs for 90 days.
The White House has set July 9 as the deadline for tariff negotiations with other countries and the suspension of reciprocal tariffs for three months.
The President stated that the newly adjusted tariffs will take effect starting from August 1.
This move has led to a further escalation of trade tensions, with the decision of the United States to reimpose high tariffs putting pressure on the market. On Friday (July 4), the U.S. stock market and bond market were closed for Independence Day, but global stock markets and futures markets all experienced declines.
Upon returning to the White House late Thursday night, Trump told accompanying reporters, “We will start sending letters to various countries from tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, we may have 10 to 12 tariff measures in place, and in the following days, up to the 9th, these tariffs will cover all countries. The tariff rates may range from 10% or 20% to 60% or 70%,” he added.
The maximum tariffs mentioned by the President will exceed the highest proposed reciprocal tariff rate mentioned in April. At that time, aside from China, the highest reciprocal tariff rate proposed was 50%.
Inga Fechner, an economist at the Dutch international group ING, told the Wall Street Journal that if the U.S. raises tariffs starting next week, major trading partners may take retaliatory measures. If the tariffs take effect in early August, this means that the U.S. has left more room for negotiation, hoping to have more time to continue pushing for agreements with key trading partners such as the European Union, Japan, and South Korea.
So far, the U.S. government has reached trade agreements with the UK and Vietnam, and has reached a trade truce agreement with China.
The Trump administration has stated that negotiations with core trading partner countries are a top priority, and the July 9 deadline may be more flexible for these partner countries. However, the U.S. does not have enough time to conduct detailed negotiations with all global trading partners in such a short period.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that the U.S. is focusing on reaching agreements with 18 key trading partner countries.
In an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday, Bessent revealed that around 100 countries may be subject to a 10% reciprocal tariff, and whether to extend the negotiation deadline will be decided by the President himself.
It is currently unclear which countries will receive these letters first. Trump has publicly criticized certain trading partners, including the European Union and Japan. Trump threatened to send a letter to Japan this week setting its tariff rate at a high of 35%. However, this may be a negotiation strategy, and it is currently uncertain whether these partners will be included in the White House’s new tariff list.
“We have completed the final form, which basically explains how much tariff each country will pay,” Trump said late Thursday night.