A series of shocking tariffs against multiple countries that were announced by US President Donald Trump have gone into effect. The Trump tariffs went live on April 9 and are targeting countries the US president has picked trade wars with including China.
According to a report that appeared in the BBC, China is now faces the biggest tariff of 104 percent. “This is a combination of 20 percent levied earlier, 34 percent announced last week, and 50 percent imposed by Trump hours earlier following Beijing’s refusal to withdraw a retaliatory tariff on US goods. Others include Japan with a 24 percent tariff and Cambodia with 49 percent,” the BBC reported.
“The custom tariffs are significantly more than the 10 percent baseline tariff on imports to the US from most nations that took effect on 5 April.”
A related report by the CNN explained that the Trump tariffs have been billed as reciprocal. However, they are not reciprocal, and the CNN states that they were calculated by dividing a country’s trade deficit with the United States by its exports to the country and then multiplying by 1/2.
“They range from 11 percent to a whopping 50 percent. The EU was hit with a 20 percent reciprocal tariff, Japan at 24 percent, Vietnam 46 percent and South Korea at 25 percent,” the CNN reported.
Although the tariffs are aimed at impacting the targeted countries, the CNN reported that Americans stood to pay more.
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“Americans and people across the world are set to pay a steep price. Importers, not the countries Trump targeted, will pay the tariffs, and those costs often get passed onto wholesalers, retailers and ultimately consumers. But businesses abroad won’t be off the hook either, with Americans likely to source goods from countries with lower tariff rates,” the CNN reported.
At the same time, the BBC reported that cheap Chinese small parcels will no longer be exempt from tariffs in the US starting May 2, 2025.
