Updated on Wednesday with more countries and their tariff rates.
As a 90-day pause on many tariffs neared its end, President Trump began sending out Truth Social notices to 14 nations of the level of tariffs each nation would face beginning August 1st.
On Monday, he set a 25% tariff on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, then later Monday imposed a 36% tariff on Thailand, with a warning that any reciprocal tariffs would result in an increase to what the US charges. On July 2, an agreement had been reached with Vietnam for a 20% rate for goods arriving in the US, down from an initial rate of 46% but any goods transhipped would be charged 40%--a measure seen as indirectly targeting China. (Transhipped means the goods would move from a country such as China to Vietnam and onward to the US or elsewhere.)
On Wednesday, Trump added seven more countries with tariffs of 20% to 30% on his Truth Social account, using nearly identical letters addressed to heads of state. They are: Sri Lanka (30%), Libya (30%), Iraq (30%), Algeria (30%), Moldava (25%), Brunei Darussalam (25%) and Phillipines (20%).
Later Wednesday, Trump added Brazil to the list with a 50% tariff and condemned the country for the trial of former President Jair Balsonaro, which he called an "international disgrace."
Asian countries, especially China, are seen as crucial in trade and tariff talks by companies engaged in electronics, since many components are produced or assembled in those countries. A deal with China and the US was announced in June where Chinese imports would be charged 55%, with Chinese tariffs on American imports at 10%, down from 145% and 125%. That deal is still not finalized.
The letter to the King of Thailand posted on Truth Social carried the same message that Trump has used for months, saying that the tariffs were meant to push countries to ease trade imbalances and to encourage manufacturers and assemblers to build operations in the US. Meanwhile, Trump aides such as Peter Navarro, have railed against Apple and other companies for not moving more quickly to move operations from Asia to the US.
Two US based importers have told Fierce they wonder how soon Apple and others might be to act on their commitments to build in the US, conjecturing that the timeline could be dragged out beyond the Trump’s current term ending in 2029.
The notices Trump posted on Truth Social and the earlier deals with countries such as China may be responsible for some calming of financial markets, but other factors could also be at play, including passage and signing on July 4 of a massive Big Beautiful Bill for federal spending, a favorable jobs report and a stable inflation rate.
For Jimmy Ting, a licensed customs broker, the months of tariffs negotiations and changes in rates have been difficult to track, leaving his clients often in limbo. As president of Great World Express & Customs Service in South San Franciso, he works closely with many importers buying thousands of components used in various electronics for products used by consumers and in industrial settings.
“The 90-day pause was pushed out to August 1,” he said in comments to Fierce. “There is still no clarity on any of these tariffs.” In a letter to clients he added, “there is still real concern about where the reciprocal rates will end up on August 1.” He noted that the earlier announced China agreement keeps a reciprocal tariff of 10% until Aug. 12, but added that the US and China “supposedly have an agreement in place, but there is no formal publication of the details of that agreement yet.”
Rosemary Coates, founder of the non-partisan Reshoring Institute and president of Blue Silk Consulting, a global supply chain consultancy, told Fierce on Monday that executives from electronics companies are confused about how to plan for sourcing components and assembly services. “The problem is that businesses cannot plan in such an unstable environment so they are taking a wait-and-see stance, making no investments in US manufacturing or hiring. Everyone seems to be in a holding pattern until the tariffs and the economy stabilizes.”
She said President Trump “threatens and talks tough, but seems to cave every time and offer extensions or reduced tariffs.”
Navarro in April had said the administration would reach “90 deals in 90 days,” but President Trump suggested the big deals with countries such as China are involved and that he instead would resort to sending letters to many dozens of countries about the tariff rates they face. Navarro said the problems with negotiations were because representatives of many nations were “dragging their feet.”
A recent Fierce Electronics poll found that 77% of respondents were negatively affected by tariffs, with 39% of that group “very negatively affected.” Also, 24% said that more than half of their company’s spending was affected by tariffs. A total of 52% said they have seen overall operating costs increase by more than 11% since April. Fully 13% said operating costs increased by more than 30%.
In addition to tariffs, American electronics companies learned this week that the Trump administration is planning to restrict AI chip exports to Malaysia and Thailand in an attempt to stop advanced semiconductors from being smuggled into China. The new controls are being drafted by the Commerce Department even as the administration scraps the Biden era AI Diffusion Rule, according to Bloomberg. In June, Commerce had drafted plans to global chipmakers affecting their operations in China, which could make it difficult for Samsung, SK Hynix and TSMC to use US technology at Chinese factories.