The Trump administration says the countries whose goods would be taxed at these rates would be those in Africa and the Caribbean, which generally do relatively low levels of trade with the United States.
US President Donald Trump has talked about imposing tariffs of more than 10 percent on small countries. On Tuesday, Trump said that we plan to impose this tariff on all small countries including Africa and the Caribbean. According to AP news, he said that we will probably impose the same tariff on everyone. He further said that this tariff of a little more than 10 percent may be imposed on the goods of at least 100 countries.
The reason is low level of trade with America
According to the report, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick intervened, saying that the countries whose goods would be taxed at these rates would be those in Africa and the Caribbean, which generally do relatively low levels of trade with the US and would be relatively unimportant to meeting Trump’s goals of reducing trade imbalances with the rest of the world. The president is sending letters this month to about two dozen countries and the European Union, which have announced tariff rates that will take effect on August 1.
Tariff on medicines to be announced at the end of the month
Such small countries usually face tariff rates on goods around the rates announced by the US president on April 2. The imposition of historically high import taxes to the US by the US president rattled financial markets and Trump set a 90-day negotiation period, which ended on July 9. Trump also said he would likely announce tariffs on medicines at the end of the month.
The president said he would start with a low tariff rate and give companies a year to build domestic factories before facing higher import tax rates. Trump said computer chips would also face similar tariffs.