It is now more than seven weeks into Trump’s second term in office and the position regarding US tariffs has certainly been moving fast.
While the situation remains very fluid, the below summarises the current situation.
Canada & Mexico
25% tariffs were announced for each country on 4th February, but within a couple of days they were both postponed for 30 days. Trump announced last week that time had run out and the tariffs would apply from 4th March, but certain products are already subject to another 30 day postponement.
Mexican products that comply with the USMCA Agreement (approximately 50% of imports from Mexico), and Canadian products for the auto industry are not currently subject to the tariff.
China
Trump hiked tariffs by 10% on 4th February and that was doubled to 20% last week, effective from March 4th. China has retaliated with tariff hikes of their own.
EU & UK
No executive orders have been signed yet, but Trump has repeated said that hikes for the EU will be coming. It remains unclear with he intends to increase tariffs from the UK and the potential of a trade deal was hinted at during Keir Starmer’s recent visit. Both the EU and UK will be subject to the steel and aluminium tariffs mentioned below.
Steel and Aluminium
Trump announced a new 25% tariff on these metals last month, which is due to go live 12th March.
Ecommerce/Parcels
Trump signed an executive order to remove the ‘de minimis‘ trade exemption on 4th February. This rule enables low value products (under $800) to be imported duty free, which is used for millions of daily parcels by Chinese e-commerce businesses such as Temu and Shein.
However, US Customs and the US Postal Service were not prepared for managing these duty collections, which led to the trade exemption almost immediately being reinstated. The US government has requested solutions by 1st April, although it is unclear how long it would take to get the right systems in place.
