General

The Trump administration made a flurry of trade announcements late last week. We covered the most prominent among them—the announcement of four deals with Latin American countries—last week, but here are more pertinent details for manufacturers.

Latin America: On Thursday night, the White House issued joint statements describing key terms of framework agreements with El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala and Argentina, which will be finalized “in the coming weeks.”

Tariffs on U.S. goods: Ecuador and Argentina commit to reduce or eliminate tariffs on specific U.S. exports. Guatemala and El Salvador do not include tariff commitments because the 2005 U.S. free trade agreement with Central America eliminated tariffs on U.S. exports.

• Ecuador: Ecuador will reduce or eliminate tariffs in key sectors including machinery, health products, information and communication technology goods, chemicals, motor vehicles and certain agricultural products.
• Argentina: Argentina will provide “preferential market access” for U.S. exports of certain medicines, chemicals, machinery, information technology products, medical devices, motor vehicles and agricultural products. The words “reduce” or “eliminate” are not used.

Nontariff barriers: All four countries commit to address nontariff barriers particular to their markets, including:

• Streamlining regulatory approvals for pharmaceuticals and medical devices (Guatemala, El Salvador);
• Accepting U.S. auto standards (Guatemala, El Salvador);
• Implementing intellectual property rights obligations (Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador, Argentina);
• Refraining from digital services taxes (Guatemala, El Salvador, Ecuador);
• Ending pre-shipment inspection mandates and expanding the Authorized Economic Operator program to include express delivery (Ecuador); and
• Accepting U.S. standards and conformity assessment (Argentina).

Switzerland and Liechtenstein: The president announced a framework on Friday for a trade deal with Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein focused on tariffs and investments into the U.S. and a commitment to work on nontariff barriers. Key elements include the following:

• Matching the EU 15% IEEPA rate: The U.S. will reduce Switzerland’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act rate to a maximum of 15%, the same as the European Union. Switzerland has made promises to reduce its trade surplus with the U.S.
• Market access for U.S. exports: Switzerland and Liechtenstein “intend to remove a range of tariffs across agriculture and industrial sectors.”
• Investments: Swiss and Liechtenstein companies will invest at least $200 billion into the U.S., “with at least $67 billion worth of investment occurring in 2026.” Important to the Swiss was to partner to increase the use of Registered Apprenticeships and other training programs in key high-growth sectors, including learning from and collaborating with NAM workforce initiatives.
• Nontariff barriers: Switzerland and Liechtenstein intend to address a range of nontariff barriers, including for U.S. medical devices and autos, and to identify and align international standards to improve access for U.S.-manufactured goods exports. They also agreed to “refrain from harmful digital services taxes.”

What’s next: The U.S., Switzerland and Liechtenstein will work to conclude negotiations in early 2026.

South Korea: In July, the U.S. and Korea announced a Korea Strategic Trade and Investment deal. Last week, the White House posted a fact sheet outlining its elements.

IEEPA tariffs: Under the U.S.–Korea FTA (KORUS), Korea already applied zero duties on U.S. goods. Under this deal, the U.S. will do the following:

• Cap the IEEPA Reciprocal rate at 15%, but some goods receive zero or Most Favored Nation rate: The U.S. affirms the IEEPA rate for Korea will be the higher of either the KORUS rate or the U.S. MFN rate or the IEEPA tariff rate of 15%.
• Apply Annex III exemptions to Korea: The U.S. will apply MFN to the products on the list of Potential Tariff Adjustments for Aligned Partners (Annex III), which include generic pharmaceuticals, ingredients and chemical precursors and certain natural resources unavailable in the United States.

Section 232 tariffs: Foreshadowing forthcoming approaches to the pharmaceutical and semiconductor Section 232 investigations, the U.S. agreed to do the following:

• Reduce Section 232 tariffs on autos/parts and timber/lumber: The U.S. affirms the Section 232 rate for Korea will be reduced from 25% to 15%, inclusive of KORUS and MFN, for autos, auto parts, timber, lumber and wood.
• Reduce any Section 232 tariff on pharmaceuticals to 15%: Prospectively, the U.S. will cap any forthcoming Section 232 tariff on Korean pharmaceuticals at 15%.
• Secure favorable terms for imports of semiconductors: For any Section 232 tariffs imposed on semiconductors, including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the U.S. “intends to provide terms for such Section 232 tariffs on Korea that are no less favorable than terms that may be offered in a future agreement covering a volume of semiconductor trade at least as large as Korea’s, as determined by the U.S.” It’s unclear if this foreshadows a type of tariff-rate quota.

Read more: You can find a complete list of relevant features here.