Published Fri, Aug 1, 2025 · 07:58 AM

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump will keep minimum global tariff rates at 10 per cent, resisting prior suggestions he could raise the floor to 15 per cent or higher, according to a White House statement on Thursday. 

The White House separately released a list of tariff rates on imports from several other trading partners that had yet to finalise trade frameworks as his Aug 1 deadline nears.

The White House made the announcement in a fact sheet, which said the president had signed an executive order on Thursday. It was unclear how many trading partners will receive the minimum so-called reciprocal tariff rate and how many will receive higher levies.

Trump also signed a separate order that increases the tariff rate on Canada to 35 per cent from 25 per cent, with the higher levy taking effect on Aug 1. That change excludes goods that are covered under a US-Mexico-Canada free trade pact he negotiated in his first term.

The rates come hours before Trump’s self-imposed deadline, and will hit a wide range of mostly smaller- and medium-sized economies countries that Trump showed little interest in bargaining with. BLOOMBERG

Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.