Trump unleashes tariffs up to 40%, targets Asia and Africa ahead of August 1 deadline

US President Donald Trump walks on the south lawn of the White House on July 06, 2025 in Washington, DC.

US President Donald Trump on Monday issued letters to several trading partners ahead of a deadline to reach a deal with Washington, announcing tariffs ranging between 25-40 per cent, which will come into effect from August 1.

Shortly after issuing letters to Japan and South Korea, imposing a 25% tariff on each, Trump issued letters announcing a 30% tariff on South Africa, 25 per cent each on Kazakhstan and Malaysia, and a massive 40 per cent each on Laos and Myanmar.

Trump had said at the weekend that starting from Monday he would send a first batch of up to 15 letters to countries informing them that he would reimpose harsh levies that he had postponed in April.

In near-identically worded letters to the country leaders, Trump said the tariffs would apply from August 1 because their trading relationships with Washington were "unfortunately, far from Reciprocal."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday that Trump would sign an order later in the day to delay his July 9 deadline for steeper tariffs to take effect -- postponing their imposition to August 1.

She added that besides Japan and South Korea, there would be approximately 12 other partners receiving letters from Trump soon.

With the deadline extension, Leavitt said Trump would be setting out the "reciprocal tariff rate" for economies in the coming month as negotiations continue.

Trump originally announced sweeping tariffs on world economies on what he called "Liberation Day" on April 2, claiming the United States was being "ripped off."

Amid market turmoil, Trump then suspended the initial tariffs for 90 days, a deadline that would have expired Wednesday without the latest extension.

While the Trump administration had signaled hopes of striking dozens of deals by July -- at one point boasting of "90 deals in 90 days" -- there have been limited results so far.

Washington has unveiled pacts with only Britain and Vietnam, while the United States and China agreed to temporarily lower tariff levels on each other's products that earlier reached three-digits.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that there would be a number of deals coming up: "We are going to have several announcements in the next 48 hours."

"We've had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals," Bessent told CNBC.

He added that he would meet with his Chinese counterpart in the coming weeks.

The two sides have so far held high-level talks in Geneva and London. But Washington and Beijing's pause on tit-for-tat tariffs is due to expire in mid-August.