Trump Tariffs Latest: Making Sense Of The Confusion

The news regarding tariffs from the USA is set to continue, during the next few weeks at least, with a flurry of activity in the last four days.

Things are moving so quickly that this news article will likely be out of date within a few days, but below is the latest position.

Canada & Mexico
Executive orders for 25% tariffs were signed on 4th February by Trump, which were then postponed for 30 days. After 27 days, Trump announced that time had run out and the tariffs would be introduced from the following day (4th March). Three days later, he has suspended the tariffs for another 30 days on certain products; Mexican products that meet the USMCA Agreement (around half of those imported), and Canadian products for the auto industry (some agricultural and energy products will be tariffed at 10%),

China
A tariff increase of 10% was introduced on 4th February. The White House confirmed this week that it would increase to 20% from March 4th. China has retaliated with their own tariff hikes on US products.

Global Steel and Aluminium
Trump confirmed a new 25% tariff last month, with no exceptions, which is due to go live 12th March.

Global Ecommerce/parcels
An executive order to cancel the 'de minimis' trade exemption was signed on 4th February, which is a rule that allows goods valued under $800 to be imported duty free. However, the US Postal Service and US Customs were unable to manage duty collections, so the order was postponed and the rule is currently still in place. The US government have requested solutions by 1st April, but industry experts believe it will be months before this can be resolved.

European Union
While no specific executive orders have been signed yet, Trump has repeated said that tariffs on the EU will be coming. The EU will be subject to the steel tariffs mentioned above from 12th March.

United Kingdom
It is unclear whether the UK will be targeted, but last week's meeting between Trump and the UK prime minister Starmer hinted that a trade agreement may be possible. The UK will be subject to the steel tariffs mentioned above from 12th March.

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Of course, Croft cargo is monitoring developments closely, especially with regard to those that impact the UK.

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