Washington, 1 Aug

Many countries around the world are facing the prospect of new tariffs on their exports to the United States on 7 August, a potential blow to the global economy, because they haven't yet reached a trade deal with the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump had threatened to impose the tariffs on 1 August but delayed the deadline by a week just hours before they were supposed to take effect.

Some of the United States' biggest trading partners have reached agreements, or at least the outlines of one, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Japan.

Even so, those countries face much higher tariffs than were in effect before Trump took office. And other large trading partners — most notably China and Mexico — received an extension to keep negotiating, but they will likely end up paying more.

Trump intends the duties to bring back manufacturing to the United States, while also forcing other countries to reduce their trade barriers to US exports. Trump argues that foreign exporters will pay the cost of the tariffs, but so far economists have found that most are being paid by US companies. And measures of US inflation have started to tick higher as prices of imported goods, such as furniture, appliances, and toys rise.

Countries without an agreement face duties ranging between 10 per cent and 40 per cent, according to Trump's executive order signed on Thursday. That includes large economies such as Taiwan and India, as well as many smaller countries like South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and even tiny Lesotho.

Will the deadline hold this time?

Trump's original 2 April “Liberation Day” announcement threatened to impose import taxes of up to 50 per cent on nearly 60 countries and economies, including the 27-nation European Union. Those duties, originally scheduled for 9 April, were then postponed twice, first to 9 July and then 1 August.

On Wednesday, Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social, “THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE IS THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE — IT STANDS STRONG, AND WILL NOT BE EXTENDED.”

As of Thursday afternoon, White House representatives — and Trump himself — had insisted that no more delays were possible.

But when Trump signed the order Thursday night imposing new tariffs on 68 countries and the European Union, the start date of the punishing import taxes was pushed back seven days so that the tariff schedule could be updated. The change — while potentially welcome news to countries that had not yet reached a deal with the US — injected a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses still wondering what's going to happen and when.

Of the 68 countries, along with the EU, that appear in Trump's executive order, the majority do not have deals. That includes Algeria, now facing a tariff of 30 per cent; Iraq at 35 per cent; Syria at 41 per cent, Switzerland at 39 per cent and Taiwan at 20 per cent.

In some cases, the tariffs were lowered from April, as was the case for Cambodia, which went from 36 per cent to 19 per cent. But others saw their tariffs go up, like New Zealand, from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.