By Olivier Acuña Barba •
Published: 07 Aug 2025 • 23:52
• 2 minutes read
Trump’s tariffs have finally come into force and US customs are already collecting the higher taxes on imports as they arrive in the US | Credit: noamgalai/Shutterstock
Over 60 countries worldwide are rushing to respond to the latest wave of US tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, which came into force on Thursday, August 7th, several news outlets reported.
Industry representatives in rich and poor countries warned of job losses as the tariffs upended a decades-old world trading system with rates ranging from 10 per cent to 39 per cent, 40 per cent and 41 per cent for Switzerland, Brazil and Syria, according to a The Guardian report.
All around the globe, government officials and heads of state were trying to implement contingency plans after Trump’s tariff threats turned to reality at a minute past midnight Washington time. The Brazilian government said it was planning a state aid plan for companies affected. The president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said the duties were “unacceptable blackmail”.
US Customs started collecting the higher taxes
In the United States, the country’s Customs and Border Protection agency began collecting the higher tariffs of 10 per cent to 50 per cent as soon as they officially kicked in after weeks of suspense over Trump’s final tariff rates and frantic negotiations with countries seeking to lower them, Reuters reported.
After unveiling his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, Trump has frequently modified his trade war strategy, slapping much higher rates on imports from some countries, including 50 per cent for goods from Brazil, 39 per cent from Switzerland, 35 per cent from Canada and 25 per cent from India, which Trump hit with an additional 25 per cent tax to be put into effect in 21 days over India’s Russian oil purchases.
‘Trade cannot be a suicide pact’
“BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, LARGELY FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE US FOR MANY YEARS, LAUGHING ALL THE WAY, WILL START FLOWING INTO THE USA,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump’s top trade negotiator, Jamieson Greer, said the United States was reversing decades of policies that had debilitated the country’s manufacturing capacity and workforce, and that many other countries shared concerns about macroeconomic imbalances.
“The rules of international trade cannot be a suicide pact,” he wrote in a New York Times column.
“By imposing tariffs to rebalance the trade deficit and negotiating significant reforms that form the basis of a new international system, the United States has shown bold leadership,” Greer said.
Toyota on Thursday, August 7th, said it expected a hit of nearly $10 billion from tariffs on cars imported into the US as it cut its full-year profit forecast by 16 per cent. But other Japanese companies, such as Sony and Honda, said they now expected a minor impact on profits after Japan agreed a bilateral deal with Washington to lower tariffs.
