President Donald Trump is threatening to significantly raise tariffs on seven trading partners in Asia and Africa, ranging from war-torn countries to key political allies, as it continues to negotiate trade deals with the countries ahead of a new August 1 deadline.
In one-and-a-half page form letters posted to Truth Social Monday, Trump threatened Japan and South Korea, two of the U.S.’s largest trading partners, with 25 percent tariffs, a rate that roughly matches the initial “reciprocal” tariffs Trump briefly imposed on the two countries in April. Other letters went out to a grab-bag of countries — Myanmar, which is in the midst of a civil war; South Africa, the U.S. largest trading partner on the African continent; the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan; and Southeast Asian countries Malaysia and Laos — threatening tariffs ranging from 25 to 40 percent.
The letters also extend the deadline for the tariffs to kick in — from July 9 to Aug. 1 — allowing negotiations to continue, as administration presses the countries to increase their defense spending and boost agricultural imports, among other measures.
“We invite you to participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States, the Number One Market in the World, by far,” the president wrote in the letters.
A White House official, granted anonymity to discuss strategy, said administration officials believe they “haven’t received meaningful engagement from” the countries that received letters Monday. The South Korean and Japanese governments have in fact been participating in intense negotiations with the White House for months, but talks have stalled over their refusal to boost defense spending and boost agricultural imports, among other White House demands. Other countries on the list, like Malaysia, have been seeking more attention from administration negotiators, while offering to buy more U.S. goods.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday afternoon that the president would officially push back the July 9 deadline he set to impose his “reciprocal” tariffs on roughly 60 trading partners, after initially imposing the tariffs on April 9 and then swiftly pausing them to allow time for countries to negotiate new trade agreements.
The new Aug. 1 deadline gives those countries nearly four additional weeks to reach an agreement.
Leavitt told reporters that approximately 12 countries will receive letters today and “there will be additional letters [sent to other countries] in the coming days.” She also said the Trump administration was “close” to striking some additional deals this week, but said the final decision on those agreements was up to the president.
In his letters to Japan and South Korea, Trump said that he will “perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter” if the countries open their markets to more U.S. goods and reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers.
Those letters also contained a warning: If either country attempts to impose retaliatory tariffs, Trump will add the equivalent rate to the 25 percent tariff facing the countries’ exports.
Financial markets started down on Monday and the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all dropped slightly as Trump’s letters went public on Truth Social — a signal that Wall Street could once again be bracing for a trade war, rather than a series of deals with the country’s major trading partners. The president initially set his “reciprocal” tariff rates to go into effect on April 9, but delayed the date 90 days, after financial markets and consumer confidence plummeted.
Trump said the tariffs on each country would be separate from any “sectoral” tariffs that he imposes. That appears to refer to the duties that he has already imposed on autos, auto parts, steel and aluminum under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, which gives the president broad authority to restrict imports to protect national security.
Both Japan and South Korea are large auto and steel exporters to the United States, and have been looking for relief from those duties. In addition, Trump is threatening to impose additional Section 232 tariffs on seven other sectors, including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, copper, aircraft and jet engines, lumber, trucks and critical minerals.
Asked about those investigations on Monday, Leavitt said she had no update on when any new tariffs would be announced.
“They will take the letters seriously, because they have taken the president seriously,” Leavitt said, when asked whether countries would be less likely to engage with Trump given the repeated shifts in his negotiating deadlines.
Neither the Japanese nor South Korean governments were informed prior to the president’s social media post that they would receive the letters, said a foreign diplomat and a person familiar with the letters’ timing, granted anonymity to disclose private details. It was approximately 1 a.m. local time in Seoul and Tokyo when Trump shared the letters on Truth Social.
Spokespeople from countries that received a letter on Monday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One Asian diplomat who works with negotiators in both Japan and South Korea and was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the state of talks wasn’t sure what to make of the letters and Trump’s shifting timeline. “It changes, what he says, by the day — sometimes by the week.”
Spokespeople for the embassies of Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Laos and Myanmar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letters also offer no certainty for countries looking for assurances that any deals they negotiate will be lasting. Trump wrote that the tariff rates on Japan and South Korea “may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country.”
Trump said he was imposing the duties to help reduce the “very persistent” trade deficits with the two countries — meaning they export more goods to the U.S. than they buy from the U.S. — which the president blamed on Japan and South Korea’s tariffs and other trade barriers.
However, most economists disagree with that analysis, saying that macro-economic factors like relative savings rates play more of a role in driving the overall U.S. trade deficit.
The bilateral U.S. trade deficits with Japan and South Korea last year were $68.5 billion and $66 billion, respectively, the seventh and eighth largest the United States had with any country.
“The delay indicates that the administration is willing to take the time it needs to negotiate, rather than rushing to finalize as many agreements as possible before its own, self-imposed July 9th deadline. That’s a good thing,” said Patrick Childress, a former USTR assistant general counsel, who served under Trump. “Scrambling to sign superficial or incomplete agreements would have left stakeholders with more questions than answers.”
By MEGAN MESSERLY, DANIEL DESROCHERS, ARI HAWKINS and DOUG PALMERR/Politico
Phelim Kine contributed to this report.
