During a White House press briefing on July 7, 2025, then-president Donald Trump called his aides to announce a new round of tariffs. These new tariffs will affect five other countries—South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, India and Malaysia. He declared this as a part of his greater plan to hit lesser countries with large tariffs. Unexpectedly for investors, stock markets have since suffered a significant fall. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 422 points, or 0.9%. At the same time, the S&P 500 turned negative, dropping 0.7% following his remarks.
On behalf of the unprecedented coalition supporting it, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered a letter to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during the briefing. Together, this demonstrates the administration’s deep commitment to positive international trade relations. Trump highlighted that tariffs on Japan, South Korea, and other countries would take effect on August 1, further complicating the economic landscape as businesses brace for the financial implications.
The president has pursued an equally aggressive strategy by recently imposing new tariffs. This strategy focuses on foreign economic threats that are seen as harmful. He did it with protective tariffs, announcing 25% tariffs—steep—in South Korea and Japan. Then there’s the matter of the new tariffs he intends to levy on countries that join the BRICS countries. This would amount to an effective re-imposition of country-specific tariffs that Trump had suspended in April. He pledged to negotiate 90 trade deals in his first term, and then these new tariffs came about.
Looking at Center for American Progress trump’s announcement that he will sign an executive order on Monday. This order will now formalize August 1 as the new date that these tariffs will begin. His administration has flexibly wielded the Section 301 tariffs against China as a cudgel against multiple countries, sometimes increasing tariffs to as high as 50%. His administration is clearly dedicated to fundamentally changing trade policy. This unprecedented move comes despite the economy’s remarkable resilience in the face of doom-laden predictions of inflation and recession.
The recent extension of tariffs was set to expire on Wednesday, increasing the urgency for Trump’s decision-making. Yet economists and market analysts have expressed concern about the long-term impact of these tariffs. They worry that the entire U.S. and world economy might be in trouble as a consequence. Behind the scenes, analysts are waiting with abated breath to see how these dramatic shifts will affect trade relations and economic indicators in the future.
