Donald Trump issues more letters to countries in push for tariff deals
Image: Jim Watson / AFP
US President Donald Trump released a fresh set of letters to trading partners on Wednesday, setting out tariff rates for six countries as Washington pushes to bring about a flurry of trade deals.
The letters, addressed to leaders of the Philippines, Brunei, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Moldova, spelled out duties ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent that would take effect on August 1.
Similar to Trump's first batch of documents published on Monday, when South Africa was hit with a 30% tariff on all of its exports to the US, 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.
ALSO READ: South Africa could face economic turmoil as tariffs could end Agoa benefits
The deadline for those steeper levels to take effect was meant to be Wednesday, before Trump postponed it further to August 1.
Instead, countries that face the 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 he says are "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.
For now, 20 countries have received Trump's letters, including key US allies Japan and South Korea, as well as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand.
If counterparts changed their trade policies, Washington might consider an adjustment to its stance, Trump wrote. EU deal in 'coming days'?
Analysts have noted that Asian countries are a major target of the documents so far.
But all eyes are on the state of negotiations with major partners who have yet to receive such communications, including the European Union.
For now, the Trump administration is under pressure to unveil more trade pacts. So far, Washington has only reached agreements with Britain and Vietnam, alongside a deal to lower tit-for-tat levies with China.
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Trump on Tuesday said that his government was "probably two days off" from sending the EU a letter with an updated tariff rate for the bloc.
"They're very tough, but now they're being very nice to us," he added at a cabinet meeting.
An EU spokesman said Wednesday that the bloc wants to strike a deal with the United States "in the coming days," and has shown readiness to reach an agreement in principle.
EU diplomats say the European Commission, in charge of trade policy for the 27-country bloc, could continue talks until August 1.
The EU expects Trump to keep a 10 percent baseline tariff on its goods, with exemptions for critical sectors such as airplanes, spirits and cosmetics, diplomats told AFP this week.
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.
The planned rate for copper is 50 percent, he added, while pharmaceutical products face a levy as high as 200 percent - but manufacturers would be given time to relocate operations.
AFP
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That it could be construed as an act against the Constitution itself as Ramaphosa has alluded to should also raise alarm bells given that some on the neo-liberal right armed with the casuistry of supposedly legal technicalities are hellbent on tarnishing the Constitution itself as a 'race law'. The puerile reaction of Steenhuisen to the sacking reinforces the notion that his days as the leader of the second largest party in the country and therefore the GNU ought to be numbered. Some say he has lost the plot. It's more likely that he is out of his depth. That a minor peccadillo has changed the persona and style of the DA leader in an instance from passive aggression to humiliating idiopathic juvenile tantrums competes as probably one of the fastest transformative acts in the GNU if not in three decades of democracy. His resort to coalition politics of lawfare, ultimatums, fatuous brinkmanship is unbefitting a self-respecting leader of any national party which should have a contributing role (like others of similar weighting) in the South African political landscape. His antics smack more of the petulance of self-entitlement and the psychological trauma of loss of former privileges under apartheid. It is time that the DA leader either grows up or gets out. Frankly there are lots of actors across the political spectrum of which South Africans have had a gatvol. Polity is not only about government but equally importantly about opposition and political and civic culture. The paucity of credible opposition is a bane of South African politics which does not augur well for the future. Which means we are stuck with the current set-up. The GNU has fizzled out as the great hope of a unified response to the country's seemingly intractable socio-economic woes. That is why its first anniversary is a massive let down for which both Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen must shoulder the blame. It's one thing sacking a minister (from a coalition partner) for going on a free-range walkabout abroad. It's another thing for the president to bask in the ambivalence of indecisiveness when it comes to members of his own party including ministers embroiled in allegations of scandal and corruption. The problem for the DA is its 'genes stupid'. The DA has an historical and genetic disposition to being perceived rightly or wrongly as largely a party serving the interests of the rump white constituency leftover after the historic transition to black majority rule in 1994. It is seized with preserving its privileges couched in the rhetoric of economic liberalism, the free market, the hegemony of the private sector, minimalist state intervention, with little empathy to righting the wrongs of centuries of oppression based on a bigoted weltanschauung of race-based superiority of the white race and its culture. In the topsy turvy world of South African politics, it's never a case of a zero-sum calculation, given the numerous twists in the evolution of our politics. This applies to the ANC, Africa's oldest surviving political movement and party, its current alliance partner the SACP, and to the motley of other parties across the colour spectrum that has since metamorphosed into our remarkable Rainbow Nation. In fact, it was the SACP that started organising workers and became the first non-racial political organisation in South Africa in 1921. 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Even today, in our democratic South Africa, the church remains an indispensable partner in addressing the challenges of poverty, inequality, crime, and social fragmentation. The ANC loves and appreciates the work that the Church and other Faith-based Organisations play in social cohesion, nation-building and moral regeneration in our country.' The dichotomy is the immaculate conception of the ANC/ SACP/Cosatu coalition that has ruled for the last 30 years. The fact that the coalition now includes the DA et al like a second coming should be a pause for thought. The DA is the incestuous result of many parties and movements coalescing the remnants of the National Party of Verwoerd, Vorster and Botha, subsequently transformed into the New National Party (NNP); the Democratic Party; the centrist Progressive Party and the Federal Alliance, over the years and uniting around the apple pie vision of a one nation South Africa, only for the ultimate twist of the NNP jumping ship and siding with the ANC. As for the DA having its cake and eating it is inconceivable. Its very evolution, the bitterness of being perpetual losers therefore irrelevant, its chauvinistic sense of self-entitlement are incompatible with the aspirations of a genuine GNU. No wonder it has opted out of the National Dialogue! Parker is an economist and writer based in London
