US President Trump reserves harshest tariff rates for Laos, Myanmar and Syria
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Myanmar’s trade with the US totalled $953 million in 2024.
PHOTO: EPA
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US President Donald Trump’s revised global tariff plan, unveiled on Aug 1,
The White House has not explained its rationale, and US trade with all three is small compared with trade with its other partners.
Myanmar remains under US sanctions following its 2021 coup, and Laos has drawn US scrutiny for deepening ties with China.
Syria, meanwhile, had been penalised for human rights abuses under former president Bashar Al-Assad, but the US has sought to ease those restrictions since his overthrow in 2024.
Myanmar’s bilateral trade with the US is relatively small compared to other countries in the region. The value of two-way trade was US$588.3 million (S$759 million) in the fiscal year ended March, down from US$701.9 million a year earlier, while the US continued to see a trade deficit, according to government data.
Myanmar has been struggling with a crippling economy and a growing civil war since the military seized power more than four years ago.
Washington has imposed sanctions for what it sees as the junta’s use of violence against civilians and suppression of democracy activists.
The tariff announcement came just a day after Myanmar’s junta lifted emergency rule, paving the way for elections later in 2025. The US and other governments have criticised the vote as being neither free nor fair.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing praised Mr Trump in a rare letter in July and compared his military’s coup with the US President’s baseless claims of election fraud, suggesting both leaders were victims of rigged votes.
The junta chief also requested a reduced tariff rate and offered to send a high-level trade delegation to Washington.
On Aug 2, Myanmar’s military government said it remains upbeat on reaching a deal with the US.
“The US continues to negotiate with us on this so it’s still in a stage of negotiation,” Zaw Min Tun, chief spokesman of the ruling State Security and Peace Commission, told Bloomberg News.
Myanmar has offered to reduce its tariff on American goods entering the country to a range of 0-15 per cent, from the previous rate of 88 per cent, and expects the ones imposed by the US to drop to a range of 0-7 per cent, he said.
The nature and channel of ongoing discussions between the US and Myanmar is not immediately clear as Washington has imposed sanctions on most of Myanmar generals and cabinet members following the military coup that ousted the Aung San Suu Kyi-led civilian government in 2021.
As for Laos, US exports to the South-east Asian nation totalled US$40.4 million in 2024, while imports reached US$803.3 million. The US has raised concern over its economic dependence on China and mounting debt tied to Chinese infrastructure projects.
Mr Trump recently signed an executive order easing sanctions on Syria to help rebuild the war-torn country and support its new government.
Observers say there may be a simple reason for the high tariffs.
“Rather than pick on these three nations, I suspect limited bandwidth in DC led officials to focus on bigger fry,” said Dr Simon Evenett, founder of the St Gallen Endowment for Prosperity Through Trade, a group based in Switzerland that tracks trade policies. BLOOMBERG
