President Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday, slapping tariffs on most of America’s trading partners, but the new duties are set to go into effect in seven days — not Friday as had been anticipated.
The executive order lays out rates to be applied against nearly 70 countries, ranging from 10% to 41% in what a Trump administration official hailed as the beginning of a “new system of trade.”
The countries facing the highest rates in the executive order are Laos and Myanmar at 40% and Syria at 41%. However, the president previously announced a 40% tariff on Brazil, which, when added on top of the 10% baseline tariff in the new order, means a 50% rate on the country’s imports to the U.S.
Trump previously announced some of the rates, such as a 35% tariff on Canada, unveiled in a separate executive order, and a 25% tariff on India.
Countries not listed in the executive order will face a 10% tariff.
The White House has said the rates were determined largely based on the trade deficit the U.S. has with those trading partners.
The new tariff rates resemble levies that were placed on more than 90 countries on April 2, though there are some differences.
Trump rolled out those so-called reciprocal tariffs in April, then delayed them, vowing then to strike roughly 90 trade deals in 90 days. In early July, Trump delayed the tariffs again, setting a deadline of Aug. 1.
The new executive order appears to add 15% tariffs on goods from several countries not initially included in the president’s “Liberation Day” executive order on April 2 — including Bolivia, Ecuador, Ghana and Iceland.
Other rates have been lowered, in part through trade deals the White House previously announced.
The tariff on Vietnam is set at 20%, down from 46%. The rate for Japan is set at 15%, down from 24%.
The administration has struck other deals with major U.S. trading partners.
After the ‘Liberation Day” tariffs were unveiled and then delayed, Trump sent letters to leaders of roughly two dozen countries outlining the tariff levels that would take effect if no deal were struck.
The Trump administration raced to strike trade agreements over the days preceding the deadline in an effort to win concessions from targeted countries in exchange for reduced tariff rates.
Ahead of Thursday’s executive order, Trump brokered agreements with the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, the European Union and South Korea. The White House also reached a preliminary accord with China that lowered tit-for-tat tariffs previously imposed by the world’s two largest economies.
On Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day delay of reciprocal tariffs targeting Mexico, which would have otherwise faced 30% levies. Instead, Mexico faces a 25% tariff for most goods as well as sector-specific tariffs targeting cars, aluminum and steel. Those levies exclude products compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, a free trade agreement.
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The Trump administration has touted tariffs as part of a wider set of “America First economic policies,” which have “sparked trillions of dollars in new investment in U.S. manufacturing, technology, and infrastructure,” according to the White House’s website.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, a Trump administration official hailed the new system of tariffs as a “new system of trade” that aims to prioritize “fair and balanced trade” over efficiency at all costs.
For his part, the president has insisted that the on-again, off-again levies make up a key part of his negotiation strategy.
The president and his trade team want to cut the best deals for the American people and the American worker,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last month when she announced the Aug. 1 deadline.
ABC News’ Jack Moore contributed to this report.
