US President Donald Trump has indicated that he will not go below a 15% rate as he sets his “reciprocal” tariffs on US trading partners, a sign that the floor for these increased levies is rising.
This latest pronouncement adds another layer of complexity to the administration’s chaotic trade war, suggesting a more aggressive imposition of duties on countries that have not yet secured a trade framework with Washington.
“We’ll have a straight, simple tariff of anywhere between 15% and 50%,” President Trump stated on Wednesday during an AI summit in Washington.
He added, “A couple of — we have 50 because we haven’t been getting along with those countries too well.”
This comment, declaring that the new baseline for tariffs would begin at 15%, represents the latest twist in President Trump’s sweeping effort to impose duties on nearly every US trading partner.
It is also the latest indication that he is looking to more aggressively apply these levies on exports from the large group of countries that have, so far, been unable to broker specific trade agreements with his administration.
The goalposts on these tariffs have shifted multiple times. Earlier this month, President Trump had stated that more than 150 countries would receive a letter including a tariff rate of “probably 10 or 15%, we haven’t decided yet.”
His Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, told CBS News on Sunday that small countries, including “the Latin American countries, the Caribbean countries, many countries in Africa,” would have a baseline tariff of 10%.
And when the tariffs were first announced back in April, President Trump had unveiled a universal tariff of 10% on nearly every country. The new 15% floor signals a significant hardening of his administration’s position.
Deals, deadlines, and a door left ajar
While President Trump and his advisers had initially expressed hopes of securing multiple, detailed trade deals, the President has recently shifted his rhetoric, touting the tariff letters themselves as “deals.” He has also suggested that he is uninterested in protracted, back-and-forth negotiations with every single country.
“You can’t negotiate deals with everyone,” he said on Wednesday, explaining why he would opt for a “very, very simple tariff for some of the countries.”
Despite this tough talk, he has still left the door open for countries to make agreements that could potentially lower their tariff rates before the August 1 deadline.
A prime example of this is the deal announced on Tuesday with Japan. In that agreement, President Trump announced he was reducing a threatened 25% tariff on Japan down to 15%. This concession came in exchange for Japan removing restrictions on some U.S. products and offering to back a massive $550 billion investment fund.
Other major trading partners, including South Korea, India, and members of the European Union, are still pushing hard to secure their own agreements before the heightened tariffs are scheduled to go into effect. Speaking about the ongoing negotiations with the European Union on Wednesday, President Trump described the talks as “serious.”
“If they agree to open up the union to American businesses, then we will let them pay a lower tariff,” Trump said, indicating that a path to a more favorable outcome still exists for the bloc, provided it meets his administration’s demands.
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