On Aug. 7, the title page of Switzerland’s main daily newspaper, Blick, featured a single figure in large white font against a black background: 39%.
That, of course, is the tariff rate on Swiss imports that U.S. President Donald Trump had announced a week earlier and which took effect on Aug. 7, marking what Blick called “a black day” for the Alpine country.
While Trump has justified higher tariffs as a way to reduce U.S. trade deficits, in many cases he is clearly using them to punish countries worldwide for all kinds of actual and perceived slights against him or the United States. While some countries have so far escaped with the baseline rate of 10 percent and a handful have negotiated levies that are lower than what Trump initially announced back in April, others that find themselves in Trump’s crosshairs have not been so lucky.