President Trump began unveiling his “UNITED STATES TARIFF Letters” Monday with the announcement of 25% duties on both South Korea and Japan.
The new rates — which aren’t scheduled to take effect until Aug. 1 — track closely with the rates the president first announced on “Liberation Day” in April before then offering a 90-day pause that expires this week.
Back in April, Trump announced plans for a 25% rate on South Korea and a 24% rate on Japan.
Monday’s announcement does represent somewhat of a win for Japan, which had seen Trump threaten 35% tariffs just a few days ago in comments where he called the nation “so spoiled.”
Markets observers are meanwhile largely focused on the delayed Aug. 1 deadline, which Trump announced would be coming only in recent days.
That may dampen some of the immediate market impacts even as stocks sank Monday, given that no changes will be implemented this week, while at the same time underlining Trump’s desire to move aggressively after country-by-country negotiations have proven slower than he had hoped.
“If, for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by will be added onto the 25% we charge,” Trump wrote in his letters to both countries as part of his overall message that these blanket duties are needed to begin reducing deficits in the trade deficits in the years ahead.
Trump has promised many more letters in the coming days with missives which could number over 100 by this week’s July 8 deadline for reciprocal duties.
Perhaps the highest stakes negotiation to come this week is around the European Union, which said Monday it is still hoping for a deal this week, but Trump has promised a 50% tariff rate if no agreement is possible.
Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
Another closely watched negotiation is with India, which said a deal is in Trump’s hands.
Monday’s announcement also comes after Trump continued to bring other issues into the trade talks with an overnight announcement that he planned to use a 10% tariff to dissuade nations from lining up against him through an intergovernmental organization comprising 10 countries known as BRICS.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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