Trump to impose 10-15% tariff on over 150 countries — but there's a catch

US President Donald Trump has said that he will impose tariffs in the range of 10 to 15 per cent on more than 150 countries.

However, Trump noted that this bracket will not include large trading partners of the United States.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that “we’ll have well over 150 countries that we’re just going to send a notice of payment out, and the notice of payment is going to say what the tariff” rate will be.

Trump further said that these countries will not be “big countries and they don’t do that much business”.

Later in the day, Trump told Real America’s Voice that the rate would “be probably 10 or 15 per cent, we haven’t decided yet”

The fact that Trump is imposing lesser tariffs on smaller economies suggests that Trump has realised high tariffs are disruptive, according to Alicia Garcia Herrero, the Chief Asia Pacific Economist at Natixis.

“For much of the world —and Asia in particular, which faces among the highest levies— the rate announcement could be read as a positive, providing some certainty for smaller countries with a lower rate than initially threatened,” Herrero told Bloomberg.

Herrero further said that the move also signals that “Trump is realizing that too high tariffs are disruptive."

In recent weeks, Trump has sent out letters to various countries to inform them of tariffs that they will face starting August 1. In line with the stand in April, Trump has slapped some of the highest tariffs on some of the closest US strategic and trade partners.

For example, Trump has imposed Japan and South Korea with 25 per cent tariff each.

Trump has so far sent letters to 22 countries that also include Malaysia (25 per cent), Bangladesh (35 per cent), Indonesia (32 per cent), and South Africa (30 per cent), among others. The United States has some of the most critical trade partnerships with these countries.

South Korea and Japan are major supplier of cars, automobile parts, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and machinery to the United States; Malaysia is the second-largest supplier of chips; Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Cambodia are manufacturing hubs for apparel and accessories, and South Africa accounts for nearly half of all US platinum imports and was the largest single supplier last year, according to CNN.