{"id":126323,"date":"2025-08-07T12:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/126323\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T12:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:31:11","slug":"trumps-broad-tariffs-go-into-effect-just-as-us-economic-pain-is-surfacing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/126323\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s broad tariffs go into effect just as US economic pain is surfacing"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump began imposing higher import taxes<\/a> on dozens of countries Thursday just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to cause visible damage<\/a> to the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n

Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%. Trump also expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the growth is going to be unprecedented,\u201d Trump said Wednesday. He said the U.S. was \u201ctaking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs,\u201d but did not provide a specific figure for revenues because \u201cwe don\u2019t even know what the final number is\u201d regarding the rates.<\/p>\n

Despite the uncertainty<\/a>, the White House is confident that the onset of his tariffs will provide clarity about the path for the world\u2019s largest economy. Now that companies understand the direction the U.S. is headed, the Republican administration believes it can ramp up new investments and jump-start hiring in ways that can rebalance America as a manufacturing power. <\/p>\n

So far, however, there are signs of self-inflicted wounds to the U.S. as companies and consumers brace for the impact of the new taxes. <\/p>\n

Risk of economic erosion<\/p>\n

Hiring began to stall, inflationary pressures crept upward and home values in key markets started to decline after the initial tariff rollout in April, said John Silvia, CEO of Dynamic Economic Strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cA less productive economy requires fewer workers,\u201d Silvia said. \u201cBut there is more, the higher tariff prices lower workers\u2019 real wages. The economy has become less productive, and firms cannot pay the same real wages as before. Actions have consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many economists say the risk is that the American economy is steadily eroded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be fine sand in the gears and slow things down,\u201d said Brad Jensen, a professor at Georgetown University. <\/p>\n

Trump has promoted the tariffs as a way to reduce America\u2019s persistent trade deficit<\/a>. But importers tried to avoid the taxes by bringing in more goods before the tariffs took effect. As a result, the $582.7 billion trade imbalance for the first half of the year was 38% higher than in 2024. Total construction spending has dropped 2.9% over the past year.<\/p>\n

The economic pain is not confined to the U.S. <\/p>\n

Germany, which sends 10% of its exports to the U.S. market, saw industrial production sag 1.9% in June as Trump\u2019s earlier rounds of tariffs took hold. \u201cThe new tariffs will clearly weigh on economic growth,\u201d said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro for ING bank. <\/p>\n

Dismay in India and Switzerland<\/p>\n

The lead-up to Thursday fit the slapdash nature of Trump\u2019s tariffs, which have been rolled out<\/a>, walked back, delayed, increased, imposed by letter and renegotiated. <\/p>\n

Trump on Wednesday announced additional 25% tariffs to be imposed on India<\/a> because of its purchases of Russian oil, bringing its total import taxes to 50%. <\/p>\n

A leading group of Indian exporters said that will affect nearly 55% of the country\u2019s outbound shipments to America and force exporters to lose long-standing clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsorbing this sudden cost escalation is simply not viable. Margins are already thin,\u201d S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said in a statement. <\/p>\n

The Swiss executive branch, the Federal Council, was expected to meet Thursday after President Karin Keller-Sutter and other Swiss officials returned from a hastily arranged trip to Washington in a failed bid to avert a 39% U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods.<\/p>\n

Import taxes are still coming on pharmaceutical drugs, and Trump announced 100% tariffs on computer chips<\/a>. That could leave the U.S. economy in a place of suspended animation as it awaits the impact.<\/p>\n

Stock market remains solid<\/p>\n

The president\u2019s use of a 1977 law to declare an economic emergency to impose the tariffs is under a legal challenge<\/a>. Even people who worked with Trump during his first term are skeptical, such as Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who was House speaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no sort of rationale for this other than the president wanting to raise tariffs based upon his whims, his opinions,\u201d Ryan told CNBC on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Trump is aware of the risk that courts could overturn his tariffs. In a Truth Social tweet, he said, \u201cTHE ONLY THING THAT CAN STOP AMERICA\u2019S GREATNESS WOULD BE A RADICAL LEFT COURT THAT WANTS TO SEE OUR COUNTRY FAIL!\u201d<\/p>\n

The stock market has been solid during the tariff drama, with the S&P 500 index climbing more than 25% from its April low. The market\u2019s rebound and the income tax cuts in Trump\u2019s tax and spending measure signed into law<\/a> on July 4 have given the White House confidence that economic growth is bound to accelerate in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Global financial markets took the new tariffs in stride, with Asian and European shares and U.S. futures mostly higher. <\/p>\n

But ING\u2019s Brzeski warned: \u201cWhile financial markets seem to have grown numb to tariff announcements, let\u2019s not forget that their adverse effects on economies will gradually unfold over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump foresees an economic boom. American voters and the rest of the world wait, nervously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one person who can afford to be cavalier about the uncertainty that he\u2019s creating, and that\u2019s Donald Trump,\u201d said Rachel West, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who worked in the Biden White House on labor policy. \u201cThe rest of Americans are already paying the price for that uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of President Donald Trump at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/donald-trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump began imposing higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday just as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":126324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13214,64,77585,84,69,12042,440,8697,439,57,2055,86,13790,170,77584,50,77583,80,77586,15243,16997,49446,16618,11084,61,93,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-126323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-asia-pacific","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-carsten-brzeski","11":"tag-district-of-columbia","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-economic-policy","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-european-union","16":"tag-financial-markets","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-government-and-politics","19":"tag-government-policy","20":"tag-international-trade","21":"tag-japan","22":"tag-john-silvia","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-paul-ryan","25":"tag-politics","26":"tag-rachel-west","27":"tag-south-korea","28":"tag-switzerland","29":"tag-switzerland-government","30":"tag-tariffs-and-global-trade","31":"tag-trump-media-technology-group","32":"tag-u-s-news","33":"tag-washington-news","34":"tag-world","35":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114987498777969105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}