The view that the duties will not fall below 15%, the US president implied Donald Trump Trying to set the so -called mutual duty rates before the August 1 deadline, and this is an indication that the threshold for duties is increasing.
“We will have a simple, clear tariff rate between 15% and 50%,” Donald Trump said Wednesday (23.7.2025) at a summit for artificial intelligence in Washington. “Some of the duties are at 50%because we do not have very good relations with these countries.”
Trump’s statement that duties will start at 15% represents the latest reversal in his attempt to impose duties on almost all US trade partners and is the latest indication that Trump seeks to impose duties more aggressively on exports from countries outside the small group that has so far been traded.
Earlier this month, Trump said more than 150 countries would receive a letter referring to a tariff rate probably 10 or 15%, as he has not yet decided.
The Minister of Commerce Howard Lutnik told CBS News on Sunday (20.7.2025) that small countries, including “Latin American countries, Caribbean countries and many African countries”, will have a key duties of 10%. And during the first announcement of the duties in April, Trump revealed a 10% universal tariff rate for almost all countries.
While Trump and his advisers first expressed the hope of securing multiple agreements, the president has promoted the letters themselves on duties as “agreements” and has implied that he is not interested in negotiations with conflicts. However, it has left the possibility that countries will conclude agreements that could reduce these rates.
On Tuesday (22.7.2025), Trump announced that it would reduce the threatened 25% duty for Japan to 15%, in exchange for removing the country’s restrictions on some US products, as well as the support of a $ 550 billion investment fund.
Other countries, such as South Korea, India and members of the European Union, are still pushing to reach an agreement before the entry into force of increased duties.
Yesterday, the Republican said he would “implement a very, very simple duty for some countries” because there are so many countries that “you cannot negotiate agreements with all”. He said talks with the European Union are “serious”. “If they agree to open the Union to US companies, then we will allow them to pay a lower duty,” Trump said.