{"id":316811,"date":"2025-08-04T09:40:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/316811\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T09:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:40:13","slug":"us-tariffs-some-pacific-nations-get-relief-others-face-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/316811\/","title":{"rendered":"US tariffs: Some Pacific nations get relief, others face increase"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"US<\/p>\n

\nUS President Donald Trump holds a chart titled ‘Reciprocal Tariffs’ during an event at the White House in Washington, DC, on 2 April 2025.
\nPhoto: AFP \/ Brendan Smialowski\n<\/p>\n

Pacific Islands still face tariffs from the United States, but some rates are lower than originally announced in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The White House announced last week that the “universal” tariff for goods coming into the USwill remain at 10 percent<\/a>, the same level that was implemented on 2 April before the pause.<\/p>\n

But that 10 percent rate will apply only to countries with which the US has a trade surplus – countries to which the US exports more than it imports. That applies to most countries, a senior administration official said.<\/p>\n

A 15 percent rate will serve as the new tariff floor for countries with which the America has a trade deficit. About 40 countries will pay that new 15 per cent tariff.<\/p>\n

The tariff in Fiji has more than halved – from 32 percent to 15 percent.<\/p>\n

Fiji’s trade ministry welcomed the drop from 32 per cent<\/a> to 15 per cent.<\/p>\n

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica said the reduction offers welcome relief to Fiji’s exporters and helps preserve their competitiveness in the US market – but it’s not the end of the road yet.<\/p>\n

“The 15 percent tariff is not the end of the journey. As referred to in the [US] executive order of 1 August 2025, Fiji is designated as a country in ongoing negotiations with the United States,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The reduced tariff rate will take effect from 8 August, applying to all goods of Fijian origin unless excluded under specific provisions.<\/p>\n

“We remain committed to advancing these discussions in good faith. Our ultimate goal is to significantly reduce the 15 per cent tariff,” Kamikamica said.<\/p>\n

The Fijian government said the country accounts for less than 0.0001 per cent of total US imports, “posing no discernible threat to US industry.”<\/p>\n

Vanuatu’s tariffs have been dropped from 22 per cent to 15, and Nauru’s from 30 per cent also to 15.<\/p>\n

However, Papua New Guinea has seen an increase from 10 to 15 percent, while New Zealand has also been given the 15 percent tariff.<\/p>\n

Speaking to RNZ’s Morning Report, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the tariff, which had been expected to be at 10 percent, being at a higher percentage was “not what New Zealand wanted”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Top diplomat Vangelis Vitalis was flying to Washington in the wake of the announcement, with Trade Minister Todd McClay intending to visit in coming days too.<\/p>\n

Despite the higher tariff, Luxon said the government had “played it well”.<\/p>\n

“We continue to register our disappointment about the decision; we’ve also done it since April.”<\/p>\n

He believed New Zealand exporters were “nimble and agile” and there was still huge demand for New Zealand products and services globally.<\/p>\n

The opposition said the 15 percent tariff was a “slap in the face” for exporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump holds a chart titled ‘Reciprocal Tariffs’ during an event at the White House in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[1816,9409,12,196,10975,10973,10974,49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-316811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-podcasts","12":"tag-public-radio","13":"tag-radio-new-zealand","14":"tag-rnz","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114969839158721372","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}