The US President Donald Trump's administration has just announced a new import tariff plan, ranging from 25% to 40%, for goods from 14 different countries. This policy will take effect from August 1, 2025, and marks a new strong move in the US protectionist trade strategy.
In the official notification sent to the relevant countries, Trump clearly stated that the reason for imposing high tariffs is to address the prolonged trade deficit and policies that the US believes are disadvantaging its export goods.
According to the plan, Japan and South Korea are the first two countries to receive the notification, with a 25% tariff applied to exported products to the US market. Other countries subject to tariffs include Tunisia, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan (25%); South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina (30%); Serbia and Bangladesh (35%); Cambodia and Thailand (36%); along with Laos and Myanmar (40%).
Notably, these tariffs will not be cumulative with previous tax policies already applied to certain industries such as automobiles, steel, or aluminum. This means that import tariffs on cars from Japan will remain at 25%, rather than increasing further according to the new tariff schedule.
In addition to imposing tariffs, President Trump also sent a message to trade partners, encouraging them to shift their production chain to US territory to avoid tariff barriers and take advantage of the domestic market. At the same time, he also warned that if these countries retaliate by increasing tariffs on US goods, Washington may continue to raise tariffs even higher in the future.
