President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that set new tariffs on a wide swath of U.S. trading partners to go into effect on Aug. 7 — the next step in his trade agenda that will test the global economy and sturdiness of American alliances built up over decades.
The order was issued shortly after 7 p.m. on Thursday. It came after a flurry of tariff-related activity in the last several days, as the White House announced agreements with various nations and blocs ahead of the president’s self-imposed Friday deadline. The tariffs are being implemented at a later date in order for the rates schedule to be harmonized, according to a senior administration official who spoke to reporters on a call on the condition of anonymity.
Other tariff news we’re following:
Wall Street slumps and bond yields sink following weak hiring numbers and new tariffs: Stocks slumped in morning trading on Wall Street Friday and Treasury yields fell sharply after the government reported a sharp slowdown in hiring last month. Markets are also reacting to the latest tariff news. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% and is on track to close the week with a loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 599 points, or 1.4% as of 9:44 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite fell 2%.Dozens of countries with no deals face new tariffs as trade deadline looms: Some of the United States’ biggest trading partners have reached agreements, or at least the outlines of one, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Even so, those countries face much higher tariffs than were in effect before Trump took office. And other large trading partners — most notably China and Mexico — received an extension to keep negotiating, but they will likely end up paying more.Trump orders a 35% tariff for goods from Canada, citing a lack of cooperation on illicit drugs: Trump has raised the tariff rate on U.S. imports from Canada to 35% from 25%, effective Friday. The announcement from the White House late Thursday said Canada had failed to “do more to arrest, seize, detain or otherwise intercept … traffickers, criminals at large, and illicit drugs.”