What is the status of US tariff negotiations?
Many of these tariff hikes were part of a package first announced in April, under which dozens of economies were due to face higher levies – up from a 10 per cent level – over their trade surpluses with the United States.
The twice-postponed deadline for duties to take effect is now Friday, Aug 1.
But Washington has expanded its group of targets coming up against these tariffs, while announcing agreements with the European Union, Britain, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
A deal with the European Union unveiled on Sunday sees a 15 per cent tariff imposed on European exports to the United States, down from the 30 per cent that Trump earlier threatened.
Where do other US trade talks stand?
Seoul is racing to reach a deal with Washington, as Tokyo's success in landing an agreement has "amped up the pressure for South Korea," a government source told AFP.
Local media reported that Seoul was preparing to propose more than US$100 billion in investment as part of a broader agreement, with expected participation by major firms such as Samsung and Hyundai Motor. The South Korean government did not confirm this.
But South Korean officials have outlined proposals to deepen collaboration in sectors like shipbuilding, semiconductors and batteries.
National Security Advisor Wi Sung-lak has told reporters that the two countries are in "the final and most crucial phase of negotiations" to avert Trump's proposed 25 per cent duty.
Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told Bloomberg Television Thursday that he was optimistic his country could reach an agreement with the United States to avert Washington's 26 per cent tariff threat.
Goyal insisted there were not any sticking points in the US-India relationship or in trade talks, and clarified that immigration rules – including those around H-1B visas for skilled workers – had not come up in negotiations.
Despite Goyal's remarks, local media reported the prospects of an interim deal before Aug 1 had dimmed.
Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-tai said Thursday that officials are "working hard" on negotiations, amid worries that an unfavorable tariff level could hit the self-ruled island's economy.
Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim said Taipei's negotiating team was "working almost 24 hours a day to achieve trade balance and Taiwan's industrial interests, and even to further deepen cooperation."
Although Canada and Mexico were spared from Trump's "reciprocal" tariffs announced in April, goods from both countries entering the United States generally face a separate 25 per cent duty if they fall outside a North American trade pact.
This figure stands to jump to 30 per cent for Mexico come Aug 1, while the level for Canada was set at 35 per cent.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her administration was "doing everything" possible to avert the duties and that she would speak with Trump if necessary to try to reach a pact.
Trump told reporters Friday there was no deal with Canada so far.
Brazil is girding for a virtual trade embargo on its planes, grains and other goods if Trump's threatened 50 per cent tariff on its exports takes effect on Aug 1.
The United States runs a trade surplus with Latin America's biggest economy, which was not originally expected to face steeper tariffs under Trump's "reciprocal" duties plan.
Trump has not attempted to hide the political motivation in targeting Brazil, citing a judicial "witch hunt" against his right-wing ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, when he unveiled the tariff rate.
The political nature of the spat makes a last-minute deal appear less likely.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
4 minutes ago
- The Star
Indonesian solar panel manufacturers brush off potential US tariffs
JAKARTA: Solar panel manufacturers in Indonesia are not overly concerned that their United States counterparts have filed trade petitions with Washington that might result in new tariffs, provided that Jakarta pushes for greater domestic adoption of solar photovoltaic systems. Beny Sulaiman, business development and commercial director at PT Jembo Energindo, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday (July 30) that 'the concerns in Indonesia are relatively small' since the domestic market could absorb locally made solar panels, as long as the government supported this. 'Indonesia is a big country with abundant market potential for renewables. On top of that, the government has been very supportive in significantly increasing [the share of] renewables in the [national] energy mix,' said Beny, who is also an executive at the Indonesian Solar Module Manufacturers Association. The trade petitions, which seek to impose antidumping and countervailing duties, were filed earlier this month by the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, according to a Bloomberg article. The group includes major US-based manufacturers like First Solar, Mission Solar Energy and Qcells. The plaintiffs allege that Chinese solar panel producers are flooding the US market with unfairly cheap goods made in factories in Indonesia, Laos and India. The petitions' filing has kicked off a process in which the Commerce Department has 20 days to decide whether to investigate the allegation that imports are unfairly priced or subsidised by a foreign government. Separately, the US International Trade Commission is to determine whether the imported solar panels harm domestic competition. If the commerce and trade authorities conclude that the imports are unfair and injurious. Washington might impose new duties on foreign-made solar panels. This process played out previously in April, when the US government imposed import duties of 3,521 per cent on certain solar power equipment from Cambodia, a year after the same industry alliance petitioned for protection of its members' operations. Three other South-East Asian countries, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, were also imposed US duties of varying rates, depending on the manufacturer and the products' origin. China-based Trina Solar was subject to a 375 per cent tariff for its products manufactured in Thailand, while China's Jinko Solar was slapped with a 41 per cent tariff on its Malaysian-made products. The US imported solar equipment from the four countries totaling almost US$12 billion, the BBC reported in April, citing US Census Bureau figures. The antidumping and countervailing duties have caused a massive shift in the US solar industry supply chain, prompting an immediate decline in shipments from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in May, with Indonesia and Laos picking up the slack. Indonesia and Laos saw its solar panel exports to the US balloon to 44 per cent in May from a figure of just 1.9 per cent n May 2024, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, India's solar panel exports to the US have been on the rise since 2022. Many Chinese firms have moved their operations to South-East Asia in recent years in a bid to avoid US tariffs since President Donald Trump's first term in 2017-2021. Anindya Bakrie, chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), and Shinta Kamdani, chairwoman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), both said they had not yet caught up with the matter when the Post contacted them for comments on Tuesday. Fabby Tumiwa, executive director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform, told the Post on Wednesday that US solar manufacturers had filed the trade petitions because they were unable to compete with imported solar products. 'The production cost of solar modules in the US is higher than in other countries. Compared to Southeast Asia, China or India, they're far more expensive,' he said. According to Fabby, Chinese solar technologies from were 60 per cent cheaper than those produced in the US. Likewise, Indian and South-East Asian solar panels cost only 20-30 per cent more than those made in China. Fabby suggested that US solar manufacturers were 'under heavy pressure', given that they had only recently commenced production and had therefore 'not reached the economies of scale'. Meanwhile they faced short deadlines, according to Fabby, who said manufacturers had to break even in three years as the industry was advancing rapidly, with new and more efficient solar technologies pushing out previous generations in a cycle of three to five years. 'If they cannot break even in three years, they'll certainly be left behind, because the Chinese move very fast,' he said. 'That's why it's in [US manufacturers'] best interest to shave imports, so they can utilise domestic capacity.' The condition of US solar manufacturers has been exacerbated by the 50 per cent import tariffs the Trump administration has imposed on aluminum and steel, two important precursors for solar technology, driving production costs even higher. While the pressure on the US solar industry was understandable, 'it's unfair to blame other countries [where] production costs are lower', said Fabby, adding that Indonesia's solar panel manufacturers had achieved competitiveness fair and square, without any government subsidies. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
The Star
4 minutes ago
- The Star
Kim Jong-un's sister says 'no reason' for talks with South
SEOUL: North Korea has no interest in pursuing dialogue with the South, leader Kim Jong-un's powerful sister said Monday (July 28), dismissing a new president in Seoul who has vowed to mend ties. Since his election in June, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has broken with his predecessor's hawkish tone on the North and halted loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts along the border -- begun in response to a barrage of trash-filled North Korean balloons. North Korea has ended its own propaganda broadcasts, which had boomed strange and eerie noises into the South. But such gestures do not mean Seoul should expect a thawing of icy ties, Kim Yo-jong (pic) said in an English dispatch carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency on Monday. "If the ROK... expected that it could reverse all the results it had made with a few sentimental words, nothing is more serious miscalculation than it," she said, referring to South Korea by its official name. "We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither the reason to meet nor the issue to be discussed with the ROK," she added. "The DPRK-ROK relations have irreversibly gone beyond the time zone of the concept of homogeneous," she said, using the North's official acronym. Seoul said Kim's statement -- Pyongyang's first reaction to Lee's overture -- "reaffirms the high level of mistrust between the two due to years of hostile policies". "We take this as a sign that the North is closely monitoring the Lee administration's North Korea policy," Unification Ministry Spokesman Koo Byung-sam said at a press briefing. Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP that Kim's statement underscored Pyongyang's entrenched anti-South stance. "It declares that its hostile perception towards the South has become irreversible," he said. The two countries technically remain at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. The United States, a key security ally of South Korea, keeps around 28,000 troops in the South to help it defend attacks from the nuclear-armed North. The South's Lee has said he would seek talks with the North without preconditions, following a deep freeze under his predecessor when relations plummeted to their worst level in years. - AFP
New Straits Times
4 minutes ago
- New Straits Times
Tariff in EU-US deal 'burdens' German carmakers: industry group
FRANKFURT: The 15 per cent tariff that the United States will apply to exports of cars from the European Union as part of a new deal "burdens" Germany's carmakers, an industry group said on Monday. "The US tariff rate of 15 per cent, which also applies to automotive products, will cost German automotive companies billions annually and burdens them," said Hildegard Mueller, president of Germany's main auto industry group, the VDA. US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clinched a deal late Sunday that includes a baseline US tariff of 15 per cent in a bid to avert a full-blown trade war. The new rate is lower than the 25 per cent tariff Trump slapped on carmakers in April, but significantly higher than the usual 2.5 per cent duty that was applied prior. "Important now is how the agreement looks in concrete terms and how reliable it is," Mueller said. The EU-US deal has so far received a muted reaction in Europe. While German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed the deal, saying it avoided "needless escalation in transatlantic trade relations", EU chief von der Leyen acknowledged that "Fifteen per cent is not to be underestimated, but it is the best we could get." France's minister for Europe, Benjamin Haddad, said on Monday the agreement was "unbalanced" and Germany's BDI business federation said the accord would have "considerable negative repercussions."
