WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump released a fresh set of letters to trading partners Wednesday, setting out tariff rates for six countries as Washington pushes to bring about a flurry of trade deals officials have promised.
The letters, addressed to leaders of economies including the Philippines, Brunei, Algeria, Libya and Iraq, spelled out duties ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent, AFP reported.
Similar to Trump’s first batch of documents published Monday, the tariff levels were not too far from those originally threatened in April, although some partners received notably lower rates this time.
While the president in April imposed a 10 percent levy on almost all trading partners, he unveiled — and then held off on — higher rates for dozens of economies.
The deadline for these steeper levels to take effect was meant to be Wednesday, before Trump postponed it further to August 1.
Instead, countries who face these threats of elevated duties began receiving letters spelling out US tariff rates on their products.
Trump’s latest messages were near-identical to those published earlier in the week, and justified the tariffs as a response to trade ties that have been “unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”
They urged countries to manufacture products in the United States instead in order to avoid duties, while threatening further escalation if leaders retaliated to the levies.
Apart from tariffs targeting goods from different countries, Trump has also rolled out sector-specific duties on steel, aluminum and autos since returning to the White House in January.
On Tuesday, Trump said tariffs were incoming on copper and pharmaceuticals as well.
Stocks brush off Trump’s tariff threats
Meanwhile, Wall Street rose and major European markets closed in the green Wednesday, brushing off Trump’s tariff threats on copper and pharmaceuticals.
Investors kept an eye on countries seeking to hammer out tariff agreements before Trump’s new cut-off date of August 1.
The US president had reignited trade jitters Tuesday by announcing a 50 percent toll on copper imports and saying he was looking at 200 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals.
The news sent the price of copper — with a wide range of uses including in cars, construction and telecoms — to a record high Tuesday.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq had added almost 1 percent two hours into the session with chipmaker Nvidia barrelling ahead just over 2 percent as AI growth saw it top $4 trillion in market value, the first company to hit the mark as it extended its globe-leading market capitalisation.
European markets were shrugging off risks of a trade war. Germany’s Dax hit a new high as it posted a 1.4 percent gain, matched by the CAC 40 in Paris. London could only manage a gain of just under 0.2 percent.
Trump warned he would not again extend his August 1 deadline to reach deals, after he pushed back his July 9 cut-off.
Earlier in Asia, Tokyo gains were tempered by losses in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
