1/8/2025–|Last update: 19:24 (Mecca time)
US President Donald Trump has issued an executive order that imposes new customs duties on dozens of US trading partners, in a move that re -ignited a global trade war looming with extensive economic repercussions.
The new procedures included imposing 35% fees on imports from Canada, 20% on Taiwan, 25% on India, and 39% on Switzerland, while some countries such as the United Kingdom and Brazil have maintained their previous levels of 10%.
This decision came after weeks of contradictory messages and the frantic negotiations conducted by Washington with several capitals to avoid a comprehensive commercial clash. The US administration has announced that these fees aim to reduce the trade deficit, which it described as “the extraordinary threat to national security and US economy”, in addition to increasing the treasury revenues to finance internal tax cuts.
This customs amendment comes to reduce the severity of the fees that Trump previously announced on “Liberation Day” on April 2, but the average American customs tariff rate is at its highest levels in decades, in an indication of Trump’s tendency to reshape the global economic system according to different rules.
Canada and Taiwan in the fire of the fire
Despite the intense efforts made by the Canadian government in the last moments, Ottawa failed to reach a settlement with Washington before the deadline on the first of August. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed his country’s “disappointment” regarding the American decision, warning that economic sectors will be affected by “greatly”, but he stressed the continuation of trade negotiations with the United States.
On the other hand, US Minister of Commerce Howard Lottennik criticized Carney, describing it as a “sense of sense”, against the backdrop of Canada’s announcement this week, its intention to recognize the State of Palestine, a move that aroused the anger of the American president.
As for Taiwan, which is the most important producer in the world, it described the 20% American drawings as “temporary”, as its president Lay Cheng T expressed his hope to reach it through negotiations, considering that his country is still a strategic partner of Washington in technological supply chains.
The logic of the fees .. The trade surplus determines the ratio
The US administration indicated that the new fees were designed according to the principle of commercial scale. Countries that buy from the United States more than their export will be subject to 10% fees, while 15% are imposed on countries with limited surplus. As for the countries that have not concluded commercial agreements or have large trade surpluses, they will be subject to higher definitions.
Official data shows that India faces a fee of 25%, while the percentage on Switzerland reached 39%. While the fees on the European Union were reduced from 20% to 15%, Japan from 24% to 15%, as well as South Korea from 25% to 15%. As for the United Kingdom and Brazil, they retained 10%, noting that some Brazil goods will be subject to an additional tariff of up to 40%.
In a separate context, the Executive Order was excluded from these new measures, as negotiations between Beijing and Washington are still ongoing until the deadline set on August 12. As for the fees imposed on other countries, they will enter into force after 7 days, to allow time for US customs departments to implement them.
Economic repercussions directly and the reaction of the markets
In conjunction with the advertisement, global markets witnessed a state of confusion. The “Stoxx 600” index fell 1.2% in the early Friday trading, and the “Standard & Poor’s 500” indexes decreased by 1% and 0.9%, respectively. In return, the dollar and US Treasury bonds remain largely stable.
A senior US administration official said: “We are in the process of creating a new trade system that is not based on absolute efficiency, but rather the principle of justice and balance,” referring to the shift in the philosophy of American commercial policy.
The Financial Times notes that this trend is a clear attempt by Trump to reformulate the global trade system on the basis of purely American interests, even if this comes at the expense of contracts of economic liberalism, which threatens more economic and political frictions during the next stage.
