The US and China announced today they had reached a deal for a further 90-day extension on their tariff break – the third such extension this year – to give the two countries more time to negotiate a deal. India, on the other hand, is facing an extra 25% tariff as retribution for continuing to buy Russian oil, bringing the total rate to 50%.
To see past developments and how we got here, read the updated TFG Tariff Tracker.
While US tariffs came into effect around the world just over a week ago, the uncertainty is far from being over. The US is squaring off against BRICS while solidifying – and sometimes falling short of – its flurry of trade deals negotiated in the run-up to the deadline.
India faces 50% tariff for buying Russian oil
President Trump announced on 6 August that India would receive an additional 25% tariff on top of its current 25% rate if it did not stop buying oil from Russia. India has said it relies on the oil imports to fulfil the energy needs of its growing population and industry, which still almost exclusively rely on fossil fuels.
In a statement, India’s foreign minister said the tariffs were “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”. India and the US had reportedly been close to a trade deal before the August deadline; instead, the new 50% rate, set to go into effect on 27 August, would see it face some of the highest rates of all major economies, only topped by Brazil and China.
China and US delay higher tariffs by another 90 days
A day before tariffs as high as 140% were set to go into effect, Trump signed an executive order to grant a further 90-day extension to again delay US tariffs on China, making the new deadline 10 November. President Trump has said the extra months will make it possible for the two countries to negotiate a trade deal, the talks for which have been ongoing since at least April.
Trump said the discussions have been “dealing quite nicely;” the US recently authorised the sale of AI chips to China, which the Chinese government had been pushing for. In exchange, the US will get 15% of the chip-makers’ profits from the sales, the New York Times reported. In yesterday’s announcement of the extension, Trump also encouraged China to quadruple its imports of US soybean, which he said China had a shortage of; experts are calling this “highly unlikely”.
US cancels meeting with Brazil, rates stay at 50%
Like India, Brazil faces some of the highest tariff rates after Trump imposed a “free speech tariff” due to what Trump called “insidious attacks on Free Elections,” and the prosecution of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro. A meeting between the Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss the tariffs, scheduled for tomorrow, was unexpectedly cancelled and not rescheduled, said Haddad.
While the 50% tariffs exclude over 700 products, including some of Brazil’s biggest exports to the US, they could still have a wide impact on the two’s trade relationship. As talks in the near future look increasingly unlikely – Brazil’s President said last week that any discussion with the US would be “a humiliation” – trade between the two economic giants is likely to keep suffering.
Switzerland looks for lower rates
Switzerland, a longtime US partner and member of the European single market, was unexpectedly hit with a 39% tariff rate on Liberation Day. While the EU and UK were both able to negotiate deals before the deadline, Switzerland – which mostly exports pharmaceuticals, precious metals, and high-end watches to the US – was hit with the original rates last week.
The US has been maintaining its line that Switzerland needs to do more to address its large trade surplus with the US; Switzerland, for its part, has been in talks with the US and will likely offer a range of investments, especially in pharmaceuticals, to boost US industries.
