At the end of July 31, US time, the White House announced a new trade policy and along with that a new tariff plan, applying tariffs from 10-41% to other countries.
In a move seen as restraint in President Donald Trump's historic tariff policy, the White House said the "public" tariff on goods imported into the US will remain at 10%, similar to the level applied on April 2.
However, that 10% tax rate will only apply to countries with trade surpluses - countries where the US exports more than it imports. This applies to most countries, a senior government official said.
The 15% tax rate will act as a new floor tax for countries where the US is having a trade deficit. About 40 countries will be subject to the new 15% tax rate. The 15% tax rate will be lower for many of these countries compared to the counterpart tax rate on April 2, but will be higher for a few countries.
More than a dozen countries have tariffs 15% higher, either because they have agreed a trade framework with the US, or because President Donald Trump sent a letter to their leaders, demanding a higher tariff.
A senior government official said the countries are among the countries with the highest trade deficit with the US.
" President Donald Trump is using tariffs as a necessary and powerful tool to put the United States first after years of unsustainable trade deficits, threatening our economy and national security," the White House said in a statement.
The new tariff policy will not take effect from August 1 as planned. Instead, the tariff rate will be applied on August 7 so that the Customs and Border Protection Agency has enough time to make necessary changes to collect new taxes.
In a statement on the evening of July 31, President Donald Trump said that some countries had agreed, or were about to agree, meaningful trade and security commitments to the United States, while others had not participated in negotiations with the United States, or had introduced terms that I felt were not enough to address the imbalance in our trade relations or were not in line with the United States on economic and national security issues.
Some countries subject to the highest adjusted counterpart tax rate announced by the White House on the evening of July 31 include: Syria (41%); Laos, Myanmar (40%); Switzerland (39%); Iraq, Serbia (35%); Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, South Africa (30%).
Mr. Trump also imposed a tax rate of 35% on Canada and 25% on India. Mexico has another 90 days extension.
