As of July 27, the United States and the European Union reached a trade agreement: The US will charge a 15% tariff on all imports across-the-board from the coalition of countries, according to a joint announcement between US President Trump and European Commission President von der Leyen.
The trade deal will contain agreements whereby the EU will purchase $750 billion in energy from the US, invest an additional $600 billion into the US, open markets to American agricultural producers, and will buy an undisclosed amount of American military equipment, according to a White House fact sheet.
"We, of course, have an open market to the $20 trillion European market," said Commerce Secretary Lutnick in a July 29 CNBC interview.
During that interview, "natural resource" tariff exemptions were also mentioned by Lutnick. For Europe, cork would be an example of a natural resource only made in the EU that could be exempt from trade duties. Having said that, this is the sort of tariff exemption that many agricultural commodity market participants have been waiting to hear about. Though still, it is not clear how far such an exemption could be stretched, to which products, and from which trading partners.
On July 30, US President Trump announced India will face a 25% tariff starting August 1, injecting new uncertainty for America’s largest shrimp supplier. India will face an additional penalty for its purchases of military equipment and energy from Russia, according to a post on his social media accounts which Expana cited.
Also, South Korea reached a deal with the US to secure a decreased tariff rate to 15%, announced President Trump. On the other hand, Brazil received a new tariff rate of 40% in addition to any other active and ongoing US tariffs, reported Expana in an article that specified agricultural exemptions like nuts and orange juice.
And as of July 31, US tariffs on Mexico have been delayed 90 days, according to President Trump’s latest social post:
“Mexico will continue to pay a 25% Fentanyl Tariff, 25% Tariff on Cars, and 50% Tariff on Steel, Aluminum, and Copper. Additionally, Mexico has agreed to immediately terminate its Non Tariff Trade Barriers...” he wrote. Sources speculate that a similar delay has been proposed for US-China trade discussions.
