Monitoring Trump’s Tariffs: Charges for China, the E.U. and Extra

Many countries are set to see higher tariffs beginning Aug. 1. Some have learned in recent weeks about the new duties that will soon be applied to their goods in the United States. Others will be subject to taxes that the president announced and suspended earlier this year. And still more nations have brokered agreements with the United States that lower the rates they might have faced otherwise.

In the first camp are roughly two dozen countries that have received letters spelling out the higher tariff rates that will apply to their goods beginning next month unless they can strike a last-minute trade truce with the White House.

Taxes on imports from South Korea would rise to 25 percent, and the duties on Thailand’s goods would be set at 36 percent. The highest, so far, would be Brazil, which would see tariffs hit 50 percent next month.

Mr. Trump announced that tariff in a searing letter that attacked Brazilian leaders for their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of Mr. Trump who is facing charges for inciting a coup.

In each of his letters, Mr. Trump said he would ratchet up the taxes on imports even higher if countries retaliated against the United States. He also said that the duties are separate from those he has applied to specific sectors.

When Mr. Trump unveiled many of his initial tariffs in April, he described the staggering rates as “reciprocal.” He derived the duties from a formula – widely questioned by experts – relative to the size of the U.S. trade deficit with each nation.

Soon after announcing the tariffs, Mr. Trump halted them for 90 days, in a pause that was set to expire in early July. But Mr. Trump extended the pause again this month as part of his renewed push to strike trade deals before Aug. 1. (For China, the date is Aug. 12, under a deal it brokered with U.S. officials.)

It is unclear if the president plans to reimpose these exact tariffs or modify them in some way. For the moment, though, his executive order would see his “reciprocal” rates implemented next month for countries that haven’t been told otherwise.

Issuing his initial pause, Mr. Trump sought to broker 90 deals in 90 days, as one of his advisers described it. That never materialized, though the president has struck a series of trade agreements with a handful of nations, including those in the European Union, which announced a preliminary agreement with the United States on Sunday.

That deal would set tariffs on E.U. goods at 15 percent, in exchange for better market access for U.S. goods and other concessions. The Trump administration has not released detailed terms of the arrangement.

Last week, the president announced a deal with Japan that calls for a 15 percent tariff on that country’s exports to the United States while relaxing duties that had applied to the Japanese auto industry. Japan agreed to supply $550 billion for investment in the United States.

The White House has previously announced similar framework agreements with Britain, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia. The Indonesia deal, which Mr. Trump also announced last week, set its tariff rate at 19 percent. For several countries, the deals impose higher duties on goods that use a significant portion of parts or raw materials from countries including China and Russia.

The United States has set a 30 percent baseline tariff on imports from China under an agreement in May that walked back, at least for now, a highly damaging tit-for-tat escalation of duties between the two superpowers. (Other tariffs may also apply to Chinese goods.)

The deadline for the current rate to expire is Aug. 12, though American officials have said they may push the date as talks continue. Mr. Trump has said that tariffs could rise again without a new deal. But he signaled that it would be less than the 145 percent rate the U.S. government had imposed at one point in April, as the two sides escalated trade penalties on each other.

China has long been a target for Mr. Trump dating back to his first term. Upon returning to office, he initially sought to penalize Beijing for failing to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

Two of America’s largest trading partners may also see tariffs rise on some of their exports to the United States beginning Aug. 1. For Canada, that new rate would be 35 percent; for Mexico, 30 percent.

White House officials say the rates would apply to imports from the two countries that are not covered under a trade deal that Mr. Trump signed during his first term. But the president’s aides have cautioned that a decision on the matter is not final.

Mr. Trump first targeted Canada and Mexico in February, announcing a 25 percent import tax on all arriving goods, which the president justified by saying the two nations had not sufficiently helped to combat the flow of fentanyl. Facing blowback domestically and abroad, he later paused and modified that arrangement to exempt items that are covered under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or U.S.M.C.A.

These broad tariffs are separate from duties that Mr. Trump has imposed on specific imports and industries, including foreign cars and auto parts. Those tariffs also affect Canada and Mexico, with some key exceptions for products covered by U.S.M.C.A.

Some countries have not been targeted with specific new tariff threats. Instead, they are subject to a flat, 10 percent tariff on all imports into the United States, under an order Mr. Trump signed earlier this year.

Several of Mr. Trump’s tariffs target specific products or industries, using a provision of federal law – Section 232 – meant to help the president address trade issues that present national security threats.

Since the start of his second term, Mr. Trump has announced these duties on imports of aluminum, foreign cars and car parts and steel. In some cases, these tariffs supplement the duties targeted at specific countries, and the taxes do not pile on top of each other. For others, like the European Union, agreements brokered with the United States would override the sector-specific duties.

The president has started the process to impose additional sector-specific tariffs on products including copper, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.

Combined, the tariffs Mr. Trump has imposed this year mean the vast majority of goods that enter the United States now are subject to higher import taxes. Those duties are paid by the companies that import the goods, raising the risk that U.S. businesses and consumers will soon see higher prices. Mr. Trump insists otherwise, arguing that foreign producers will essentially eat the costs.

Mr. Trump also has shown no signs of slowing down with what has been an on-again-off-again trade war.

The president and his top aides repeatedly have said they do not plan to extend their upcoming Aug. 1 deadline. But Mr. Trump has announced, then relaxed, some of his toughest trade policies in a bid to buy more time to negotiate deals.