Donald Trump reduces tariff on Sri Lanka to 20%, New tariffs go into effect from Aug 7

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday reducing tariffs on Sri Lankan goods to 20% from 44% announced in April, the White House said.

Trump had initially announced a tariff rate of 44% in April for Sri Lankan exports. However, the rate was then reduced to 30%, according to a letter directed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on July 10.

On April 2, President Donald Trump declared a US economic emergency and announced tariffs of at least 10% across all countries, with rates even higher for 60 countries or trading blocs that have a high trade deficit with the US. He deemed it “Liberation Day.”

With just a few hours to go before the August 1 trade deadline, the White House announced its new trade policy late Thursday – and, along with it, its new tariff plan.

In what qualifies as restraint during President Donald Trump’s historic tariff policy, the White House announced that the “universal” tariff for goods coming into the United States will remain at 10%, the same level that was implemented on April 2.

But that 10% rate will apply only to countries with a trade surplus – countries to which the United States exports more than it imports. That applies to most countries, a senior administration official said.

A 15% rate will serve as the new tariff floor for countries with which the United States has a trade deficit. About 40 countries’ goods will be subjected to that new 15% tariff. That tariff will be lower for many of those nations than the April 2 “reciprocal” tariffs, but it will be higher for a handful.

And more than a dozen countries have tariff rates that are higher than 15%, either because they agreed to a trade framework with the United States or because Trump sent their leaders a letter dictating a higher tariff. The senior administration official said those countries have among the highest trade deficits with the United States.

“President Trump is using tariffs as a necessary and powerful tool to put America First after many years of unsustainable trade deficits that threaten our economy and national security,” the White House said in a statement.

The new tariff regime will not go into effect Friday, as expected. Instead, the tariffs will be implemented on August 7 to give Customs and Border Protection sufficient time to make the necessary changes to collect the new duties.

Accordingly, the US president announced adjustments to some of those reciprocal tariffs ahead of its deadline.

Here’s what’s different:

• Sri Lanka: 44% to 20%

• Angola: 32% to 15%

• Bangladesh: 37% to 20%

• Bosnia and Herzegovina: 35% to 30%

• Botswana: 37% to 15%

• Brunei: 24% to 25%

• Cambodia: 49% to 19%

• Cameroon: 11% to 15%

• Chad: 13% to 15%

• Côte d`Ivoire: 21% to 15%

• Democratic Republic of the Congo: 11% to 15%

• Equatorial Guinea: 13% to 15%

• European Union: 20% to 15% (for most goods)

• Falkland Islands: 41% to 10%

• Fiji: 32% to 15%

• Guyana: 38% to 15%

• India: 26% to 25%

• Indonesia: 32% to 19%

• Iraq: 39% to 35%

• Israel: 17% to 15%

• Japan: 24% to 15%

• Jordan: 20% to 15%

• Kazakhstan: 27% to 25%

• Laos: 48% to 40%

• Lesotho: 50% to 15%

• Libya: 31% to 30%

• Liechtenstein: 37% to 15%

• Madagascar: 47% to 15%

• Malawi: 17% to 15%

• Malaysia: 24% to 19%

• Mauritius: 40% to 15%

• Moldova: 31% to 25%

• Mozambique: 16% to 15%

• Myanmar: 44% to 40%

• Namibia: 21% to 15%

• Nauru: 30% to 15%

• Nigeria: 14% to 15%

• North Macedonia: 33% to 15%

• Pakistan: 29% to 19%

• Philippines: 17% to 19%

• Serbia: 37% to 35%

• South Korea: 30% to 15%

• Switzerland: 31% to 39%

• Taiwan: 32% to 20%

• Thailand: 36% to 19%

• Tunisia: 28% to 25%

• Vanuatu: 22% to 15%

• Vietnam: 46% to 20%

• Zambia: 17% to 15%

• Zimbabwe: 18% to 15%