News & Insights

President Trump signed more individual country letters this week, following his extension to Aug. 1 of the pause on “reciprocal” tariffs over 10%.

A quick recap: The president had delayed tariffs on individual countries, which had been announced on April 2, until July 9. He imposed a flat 10% tariff until then on all countries except Mexico, Canada and China.

• This week, he extended that pause until Aug. 1. If new trade deals are not reached by then, individual country rates will go into effect.

More letters: The president had issued letters on July 7, assigning tariff rates to imports from more than a dozen countries and followed those up with more letters to other countries on July 9. The second round included Libya, Iraq, Algeria, Moldova, Brunei and the Philippines.

• The letters also warned that if countries impose retaliatory tariffs, U.S. levies will rise as well. The increases cited in the letters range from 25% to 50%.
• You can find a full chart here of the countries that have received letters, as well as those that were included in the April 2 order but have not yet received letters.

Targeting Brazil: The U.S. ran a trade surplus with Brazil in 2024, which means it was not included in President Trump’s imposition of tariffs in April.

• Decrying the legal proceedings against former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro along with social media censorship policies (as well as trade barriers), President Trump announced that the U.S. is imposing a 50% additional tariff on Brazil, which will rise another 50% should Brazil retaliate.
• President Trump also ordered the United States Trade Representative to open a Section 301 investigation into Brazil’s “attacks on the digital trade activities of American companies” and other unfair trade practices, which could result in other tariffs.

Section 232: In a Truth Social post, the president mentioned plans for Section 232 tariffs on copper.

• The administration will have to issue a proclamation and provide documents defining the scope of the tariffs, including which products are subject to them, so details are yet to come.

The NAM is monitoring the administration’s actions on Section 232 closely and has been detailing manufacturers’ interests and concerns for the administration. You can read about its advocacy here.