Fred Fischer, Senior Vice President
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
There has been a flurry of trade and tariff activity in July and early August 2025. The report covers the major trade and tariff actions taken over this period, including (1) the completion of 10 new reciprocal trade framework deals; (2) the rollout of higher reciprocal tariffs on 67countries/economies, including 56 that have not yet reach a trade deal; (3) the imposition of special tariffs on several countries; (4) a determination and remedy on the Section 232 copper investigation plus the president’s comments on the Section 232 semiconductor and pharmaceutical investigations; and (5)revocation of the de minimis exception for all imports. Below are some takeaways from the report.
- The United States has now concluded initial trade framework deals with the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, the European Union (EU), South Korea, Cambodia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Thailand.
- These 11 countries accounted for $1.27 trillion or 38.5% of U.S. imports in 2024, $674.3 billion or 32.7% of U.S. exports, and $591.8 billion or 49.1% of the U.S. trade deficit.
- The trade deals are actually framework agreements that contain the basic parameters and priorities for further negotiations that will likely take months, and perhaps years, to conclude comprehensive trade agreements.
- None of the recent trade deals were accompanied by jointly agreed statements or text, so details are still limited. However, it appears that substantive negotiations are still needed to flesh out even basic understandings in some of trade deals.
- On August 7, 2025, 56 countries/economies that did not reach a trade deal will now be subject to reciprocal tariffs exceeding the 10% baseline tariff set during the nearly 120-day pause from April through July 2025.
- We also learned that “15 is the new 10,” as the floor for tariffs has moved from the initial baseline tariff of 10% set in April to 15% in most of the new trade deals.
- President Trump imposed an additional 40% tariff on some, but not all, U.S. imports Brazil that took effect on August 6th, and imposed an additional 25% tariff on most imports from India that is scheduled to take effect on August 27th.
- President Trump announced a Section 232 tariff of 50% on certain intensive copper derivative products and also announced some details regarding the pending Section 232 investigations on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
The AGS report, including data visualizations and supporting statistics, can be viewed at the link below:
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