US starts collecting Trump’s new 10% tariff, smashing global trade norms

WASHINGTON – US customs agents began collecting President Donald Trump’s unilateral 10 per cent tariff on all imports from many countries on April 5, with higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners due to start next week.

The initial 10 per cent “baseline” tariff paid by US importers took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12:01am ET (12pm in Singapore), ushering in Mr Trump’s full rejection of the post-World War II system of mutually agreed tariff rates.

“This is the single biggest trade action of our lifetime,” said Ms Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade lawyer at Hogan Lovells and former White House trade adviser during Mr Trump’s first term.

Ms Shaw told a Brookings Institution event on April 3 that she expected the tariffs to evolve over time as countries seek to negotiate lower rates.

“This is a pretty seismic and significant shift in the way that we trade with every country on earth,” she added.

Mr Trump’s

April 2 tariff announcement

shook global stock markets, wiping out US$5 trillion (S$6.7 trillion) in value for S&P 500 index companies by close on April 4, a record two-day decline.

Driven by recession fears, prices for oil and commodities plunged, while investors fled to the safety of government bonds.

Among the countries first hit with the 10 per cent tariff were Australia, Britain, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Saudi Arabia despite their having goods trade deficits with the US in 2024. White House officials have said many countries would run larger deficits with the US if their policies were fairer.

A US Customs and Border Protection bulletin provided a 51-day grace period for cargoes loaded or in transit to the US before 12.01am ET on April 5. These cargoes need to arrive by May 27 to avoid the 10 per cent duty.

Mr Trump’s higher “reciprocal” tariff rates of 11 per cent to 50 per cent are due to take effect on April 9 at 12.01am ET. European Union imports will face a 20 per cent tariff, while Chinese goods will be hit with a 34 per cent tariff, bringing Mr Trump’s total new levies on China to 54 per cent.

Beijing on April 5 said, “The market has spoken” in rejecting Mr Trump’s tariffs.

China applied a slew of countermeasures

, including extra levies of 34 per cent on all US goods and export curbs on some rare earth minerals.

“China has been hit much harder than the USA, not even close,” Mr Trump said on April 5 on social media. “THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN. HANG TOUGH, it won’t be easy, but the end result will be historic.”

Shortly after posting the comment, Mr Trump was spotted arriving at his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, reading a New York Post article covering China’s retaliation to US tariffs and the stock market fall.

Israel, Taiwan, Vietnam

“A trade war is in no one’s interest. We must stand united and resolute to protect our citizens and our businesses,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in post on X.

Some world leaders hoped to strike a deal with Mr Trump and avert economic fallout while others weighed countermeasures.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said

he will depart for Washington on April 6

for a meeting with Mr Trump to discuss the new 17 per cent tariff on Israel.

Media reported Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan, which faces a 24 per cent levy, was seeking a telephone conversation with the US president.

Vietnam, which benefited from the shift of US supply chains away from China after Mr Trump’s first-term trade war with Beijing, agreed on April 4 to discuss a deal with the US after Mr Trump announced a 46 per cent tariff on Vietnamese imports.

The head of Taiwan’s National Security Council was in Washington for talks that were expected to include the tariffs, a source said. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te huddled with tech executives on April 5 to discuss how to respond to the 32 per cent duty imposed on its products.

Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti warned on April 5 against imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States, saying at a business forum near Milan that doing so could cause damage.

US billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump adviser, told a political event in Italy by video on April 5 that

he hoped to see complete freedom of trade

between the US and Europe, which he described as “a zero tariff situation.”

Canada and Mexico were exempt from Mr Trump’s latest duties but still face

a 25 per cent tariff imposed recently

on goods that do not comply with rules of origin under a North America trade accord.

While Mr Trump’s order exempted 1,000 product categories from the new tariffs such pharmaceuticals, uranium and semiconductors, the administration is considering new duties on some of them. REUTERS