WASHINGTON: US customs agents began collecting President Donald Trump's unilateral 10% tariff on all imports from various countries on Saturday (April 5), with higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners set to start next week.
The initial 10% "baseline" tariff took effect at U.S. seaports, airports, and customs warehouses at 12.01am ET (0401 GMT), marking a departure from the post-World War Two system of mutually agreed tariff rates.
"This is the single biggest trade action of our lifetime," said Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade lawyer at Hogan Lovells and former White House trade adviser during Trump's first term.
Shaw stated at a Brookings Institution event on Thursday that she expected the tariffs to evolve over time as countries negotiate lower rates.
"But this is huge. This is a seismic and significant shift in the way we trade with every country on earth," she added.
Trump's Wednesday (April 2) tariff announcement shook global stock markets, wiping out US$5 trillion in stock market value for S&P 500 companies by Friday's (April 4) close, a record two-day decline.
Prices for oil and commodities plunged, while investors sought the safety of government bonds.
Countries initially hit with the 10% tariff include Australia, Britain, Colombia, Argentina, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. A US Customs and Border Protection bulletin indicates no grace period for cargoes on the water at midnight on Saturday.
However, a US Customs and Border Protection bulletin provided a 51-day grace period for cargoes loaded onto vessels or planes and in transit to the US before 12.01am ET Saturday.
These cargoes must arrive by 12.01am ET on May 27 to avoid the 10% duty.
At the same hour on Wednesday, Trump's higher "reciprocal" tariff rates of 11% to 50% are due to take effect.
European Union imports will face a 20% tariff, while Chinese goods will be hit with a 34% tariff, bringing Trump's total new levies on China to 54%.
Vietnam, which benefited from the shift of US supply chains away from China after Trump's first-term trade war with Beijing, will be hit with a 46% tariff and agreed on Friday to discuss a deal with Trump.
Canada and Mexico were exempt from both Trump's latest duties because they remain subject to a 25% tariff related to the US fentanyl crisis for goods that do not comply with US-Mexico-Canada rules of origin.
Trump is excluding goods subject to separate, 25% national security tariffs, including steel and aluminium, cars, trucks, and auto parts.
His administration also released a list of more than 1,000 product categories exempted from the tariffs.
Valued at US$645bil in 2024 imports, these include crude oil, petroleum products, and other energy imports, pharmaceuticals, uranium, titanium, lumber, semiconductors, and copper.
Except for energy, the Trump administration is investigating several of these sectors for further national security tariffs. - Reuters
