U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the 28th (local time) that he plans to impose a tariff of 15-20% on imports from countries that have not reached a tariff agreement.
According to foreign media, including Reuters, President Trump made this statement to reporters after meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.
President Trump said, "The tariff to be applied to the remaining countries (that have not reached a tariff agreement) seems likely to be 15-20%," adding, "I just want to be nice."
President Trump announced in April a plan to impose mutual tariffs on world countries. The United States has consecutively signed mutual tariff agreements at a level of 15% with Japan and the European Union (EU). Japan lowered its mutual tariff rate from 25% to 15% on the condition of investing $550 billion (760 trillion won) in the U.S. and opening its rice and automobile markets.
President Trump's remarks suggest the possibility of imposing a blanket tariff of 15-20% on countries that have not yet signed tariff agreements. The deadline for tariff negotiations with Korea is August 1. If the negotiations are not concluded by that day, it could cause significant shock to our corporations.
Meanwhile, President Trump noted that China, which started its third high-level trade negotiations with the U.S. on that day, should open its market, recalling that countries such as Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines that reached agreements with the U.S. opened their markets.
He also stated that the imposition of item-specific tariffs on foreign pharmaceuticals will be announced "soon." President Trump had previously hinted that a phased imposition of item-specific tariffs on pharmaceuticals, based on Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, would be announced by the end of this month.