Trump says 25% tariffs on Japan, South Korea starting August

The United States will impose 25% blanket tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea starting Aug. 1, President Donald Trump revealed Monday.

Trump, in a pair of Truth Social posts, shared screenshots of letters apparently sent to Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung dictating the new tariff rates.

The two form letters are the first to be sent before Wednesday, the day his so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries are scheduled to snap back to the higher levels he announced in early April.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said that 12 more letters will be sent out Monday, with even more set for the coming days. She also said that Trump would sign an executive order to delay the Wednesday deadline until Aug. 1. 

Under Trump’s initial rates set on April 2, U.S. imports from Japan were assigned a 24% tariff and South Korean imports faced a 25% tariff.

Following a chaotic week of losses across global markets, however, Trump issued a 90-day pause on April 9, which lowered the various tariff rates to a flat 10%.

With Monday’s letters, Trump is effectively reimposing his initial “liberation day” tariff rates on two major U.S. trade partners.

U.S. financial markets fell to session lows on news of the letters. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 447 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 lost 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.9%.

Both letters say that the 25% tariffs are separate from additional sector-specific duties on key product categories.

The letters also note, “Goods transshipped to evade a higher Tariff will be subject to that higher Tariff.” Transshipping in this case appears to refer to the practice of transferring goods to an interim country prior to their final shipment to the U.S., in order to skirt tariffs.

The form letters assert that the new tariff rates are necessary in order to correct for persistent U.S. trade deficits with the two countries.

Trump, an avowed tariff fan and a skeptic of free trade deals, regularly points to those deficits as evidence that the U.S. is being taken advantage of by its trade partners. Experts have criticized the view that trade deficits are inherently bad and questioned whether the U.S. can or should seek to close them.

The U.S. in 2024 had a $68.5 billion goods deficit with Japan and a $66 billion goods deficit with South Korea, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

Monday’s letters preemptively warn Japan and South Korea not to respond to the new U.S. tariffs by imposing retaliatory duties on their own imports of American goods.

“If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25% that we charge,” the letters say.

They both add that if Japan and South Korean “eliminate” their “Tariff, and Non Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers,” then the U.S. “will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter.”

“These tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country,” they say. “You will never be disappointed with The United States of America.”

After Trump imposed his three-month reciprocal tariff pause in April, his administration claimed that it could strike as many as 90 deals in 90 days.

But with that pause set to expire, the U.S. has only announced broad frameworks with the United Kingdom and Vietnam, as well as a preliminary agreement with China.

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