The administration keeps shifting its plans when it comes to trade negotiations. The latest expectation is that most countries will receive new tariff rates this week that would go into effect on Aug. 1.
President Trump’s administration says it will be sending letters Monday informing countries of the tariffs the U.S. will impose on their exports beginning Aug. 1.
„We’re going to have a combination of letters, and some deals have been made“, Trump told reporters Sunday evening.
Trump has floated a wide range of tariff rates, leaving open the possibility for substantial jumps in the tariffs U.S. business and consumers will pay for goods from abroad. Trump has regularly said that these rates were meant as retaliation against other countries‘ protectionist measures.
While Trump often frames tariffs as being paid by other countries, that is not the case. Tariffs are taxes paid to the U.S. government by companies in the U.S. for imported goods or components. As a result, the cost of tariffs is often passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
The new tariff letters are the result of months of uncertainty, stemming from an April 2 executive order in which Trump imposed tariffs on nearly every country worldwide. Trump announced those tariffs with a Rose Garden event, calling April 2 „Liberation Day.“ The new taxes included high rates on goods from some of America’s biggest trading partners, such as Vietnam and Japan.
