”It is a great honor for me to send you this letter”, Trump begins in a letter addressed to Japan's Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and South Korea's President Lee Jae-Myung, which Trump publishes on his platform Truth Social.
The USA, he continues, has despite trade deficits decided to continue trading with Japan and Korea, which from August 1 will "only" be subject to 25 percent tariffs in exchange for being allowed to "participate in the USA's extraordinary economy, the world's by far most superior market”.
”Much less than what is required to eliminate our trade deficit with your country”, Trump writes and adds that the tariff threat disappears if the countries, or companies in the countries, decide to produce their products in the USA.
Threatens to raise more
If Japan or South Korea, both close allies to the USA, respond with increased tariffs on American goods, the USA will raise by the same percentage.
When Trump presented his intended tariff rates on April 2, the message was that Japan, which accounts for 4.5 percent of American imports, would receive 24 percent tariffs.
South Korea, with 4 percent of American imports, would receive tariffs of 26 percent.
Later on Monday evening, Swedish time, Trump published identical letters, addressed to another dozen countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe (outside the EU), with varying tariff rates of up to 40 percent.
On April 9, after a week of stock market downturn, Trump announced a 90-day tariff pause during which he envisioned that he would enter into trade agreements with as many countries.
With two days left until the deadline, the White House now announces that the pause will be extended until August 1. So far, the USA has only managed to reach new agreements with the United Kingdom and Vietnam, as well as a "framework agreement" in the trade conflict with China.
Negotiations are underway with, among others, the EU.
Sour stock market
The New York stock market reacted negatively to Monday's tariff message. The Dow Jones industrial index fell 400 points after the announcement and closed at minus 0.9 percent.
The broad index S&P 500 and Nasdaq's technology-heavy composite index fell 0.8 and 0.9 percent, respectively. The Japanese car manufacturers Toyota and Honda both closed around minus 4 percent on Wall Street.
