The latest country-specific tariff deadline is Friday, August 1st, so we wanted to bring you a summary of the tariff landscape along with some additional updates:
Country/Region-Specific Trade Deals
In total, 6 country/region specific deals have been struck but only high-level frameworks have been made available. President Trump communicated the framework to a US-EU deal over the weekend that would see 15% being the standard tariff applied to most goods imported into the US from the EU. There are exceptions to this 15% but solid details on those exceptions are still not available. There are differing opinions on whether pharmaceutical imports are subject to the 15% rate or a higher rate and whether steel and other metals may be subject to 50% or not, but aircraft and plane parts, certain agricultural products, and chemicals will not be subject this tariff. There is no update on wines and spirits yet.
Other deals communicated include those with the UK, Vietnam, Indonesia, The Philippines, and Japan.
Here’s a current overview of the tariff levels that will be in place as of August 1st:
We still need to see the Executive Orders or other regulatory updates that trigger the new rates becoming official and to confirm what products are or are not covered, so there’s always a chance that the current tariff levels get extended again. We will find out this week.
Note that additional sectoral tariffs, Section 232 and others, stack onto these rates.
US/China Trade Deal
August 12th is the expiry date of the current US/China tariff suspension extension but we know US and Chinese officials are currently meeting to discuss trade. The goal stated by US officials is to extend the current expiration date beyond August 12th.
Sector Tariffs
There have been a lot of comments around implementing sector-specific tariffs for semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and other industries, but no concrete statements have been made at this stage.
IEEPA Litigation – Thursday, July 31st
Oral arguments are scheduled before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on V.O.S. Selections v. Trump for this Thursday. This is expected to be a long, drawn-out process arguing the legality of the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs by declaring trade deficits a national emergency. And no matter the outcome of the case, it is expected to go before the Supreme Court.
