U.S. customs agents began collecting President Donald Trump’s unilateral 10 percent tariff on all imports from many countries on Saturday, with higher levies on goods from 57 of its larger trading partners due to start next week.
The initial 10 percent “baseline” tariff paid by U.S. importers took effect at U.S. seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time (0401 GMT), ushering in Trump’s complete rejection of the post-WWII 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 told a gathering at a Brookings Institution event on Thursday that she expected the tariffs to evolve over time as countries seek to negotiate lower rates. “This is a pretty seismic and significant shift in the way that we trade with every country on earth,” she said.
Trump’s Wednesday tariff announcement shook global stock markets, wiping out $5 trillion in value for S&P 500 index companies by Friday’s close, a record two-day decline. Driven by recession fears, prices for oil and commodities plunged while investors fled to the safety of government bonds.
The scale of the tariff
Despite having goods trade deficits with the U.S. last year, Australia, Britain, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Saudi Arabia were among the countries first hit with the 10 percent tariff. White House officials have said many countries would run larger deficits with the U.S. if their policies were fairer.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection bulletin gave a 51-day grace period for cargo loaded or in transit to the U.S. before 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday; the cargo must arrive by May 27 to avoid the 10 percent duty.
Trump’s higher “reciprocal” tariff rates of 11 percent to 50 percent are due to take effect on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. ET. European Union imports will face a 20 percent tariff, while Chinese goods will be hit with a 34 percent tariff, bringing Trump’s total new levies on China to 54 percent.
China on Saturday said, “The market has spoken” in rejecting Trump’s tariffs. China applied a slew of countermeasures, including extra levies of 34 percent on all U.S. goods and export curbs on some rare earth minerals.
Trade war in ‘no one’s interest’
“A trade war is in no one’s interest. We must stand united and resolute to protect our citizens and our businesses,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X.
Some world leaders hoped to strike a deal with Trump and avert economic fallout, while others weighed countermeasures.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote in the Telegraph newspaper that he was ready to “use industrial policy to help shelter British business from the storm,” noting that his government’s priority was to try to secure a trade deal with the U.S. which could include tariff exemptions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he will depart for Washington on Sunday for a meeting with Trump to discuss the new 17 percent tariff on Israel.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan, which faces a 24 percent levy, was seeking a telephone conversation with the U.S. president.
Vietnam said on Friday that it plans to discuss a deal with the U.S. after Trump announced a 46 percent tariff on Vietnamese imports.
Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti on Saturday warned against imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States, saying at a business forum near Milan that doing so could cause damage.
While Trump’s order exempted 1,000 product categories from the new tariffs, such as pharmaceuticals, uranium, and semiconductors, the administration is considering new duties for some of them.
(With input from agencies)
