The world is watching the Trump tariffs go into effect

Donald Trump has a good part of the world waiting today for his announced “reciprocal” tariffs to go into effect after the deadline set by the US president to finalize trade agreements expired.

“The August 1st deadline remains firm and will not be extended,” Trump warned the day before.

The grace period has expired, and only six agreements have been reached so far: the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and the European Union, whose tariffs range between 15 percent and 20 percent.

For their part, the United States and China resumed talks with the aim of extending the 90-day tariff truce they agreed to at the end of May in Geneva, which expires on August 12th.

Meanwhile, 20 countries have been notified that they will face tariffs between 25 percent and 50 percent. One of them being Brazil, which in recent days has become the focus of Trump’s attacks. As he came out in defense of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023).

Earlier this month, a letter was sent to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva regarding the 50 percent tariff and its implementation.

In the letter, Trump threatened the heavy tariff if Brazil did not end the trial of Bolsonaro—a close ally and defender of the Republican—who is accused of the coup attempt to annul the October 2022 elections and prevent Lula’s inauguration on January 1st, 2023.

Additionally, the State Department also imposed new economic sanctions on Wednesday on Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is overseeing the case against the former Brazilian president.

At the same time, products covered by the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (signed by Trump during his first term in office) will be exempt from the tariff, the White House reported.

But the president said yesterday that he would increase tariffs on certain Canadian products from 25 to 35 percent starting this Friday.
“Canada has not cooperated to stem the continued flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs,” the executive mansion stated.

Meanwhile, Mexico will have a 90-day pause. The day before, during a phone call, Trump and his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum, reached an agreement. The deadline will seek to “build a long-term agreement based on dialogue,” Sheinbaum emphasized.

In Trump’s view, the tariffs will reverse the trade deficit with the United States; however, experts fear they will translate into higher inflation and even an economic recession. In fact, the president admitted a painful “transition” period for Americans.

And beware, there are already challenges in the courts. They question the legality of the powers used by the occupant of the Oval Office to decide on tariffs.

With information from Prensa Latina

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