Two of the lead negotiators in the Cabinet -- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent -- avoided directly answering an interviewer's question about whether 15% is the lowest reciprocal tariff rate trading partners like Taiwan, the EU and South Korea can receive.
The White House says that imports from Japan will be subject to a baseline 15% tariff rate, in a fact sheet published July 23, the day after the president heralded the deal on Truth Social.
President Donald Trump reached a deal with Japan, which reduces 25% tariffs on cars to 15% -- including the 2.5% MFN rate -- with no quota on imports, according to a poster shared by a White House official on X, and a clarification about the details of the car arrangement from Japan's prime minister.
Orange juice importers Johanna Foods and Johanna Beverage Company on July 22 asked the Court of International Trade to either temporarily, preliminarily or permanently enjoin the federal government from "imposing and enforcing" President Donald Trump's threatened 50% tariff on Brazil. Filing a combined application for a temporary restraining order and motions for a preliminary or permanent injunction, Johanna Foods and Johanna Beverage said the tariff isn't a proper exercise of either Section 301 or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (Johanna Foods v. Executive Office of the President of the United States of America, CIT # 25-00155).
Conservative advocacy group the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed another lawsuit challenging the legality of the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, arguing that IEEPA categorically doesn't allow for tariffs and that the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump aren't "necessary" to address the declared emergencies. The alliance filed its suit on July 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas on behalf of outdoor cooking product maker FIREDISC, the Game Manufacturers Association and wood product maker Ryan Wholesale (FIREDISC, Inc. v. Donald J. Trump, W.D. Tex. # 25-01134).
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After meeting with the president of the Philippines, President Donald Trump posted on social media that he had a "beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal, whereby The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States, and ZERO Tariffs. The Philippines will pay a 19% Tariff."
A joint statement from Indonesia and the U.S. sheds more light on what the president might have meant when he wrote "if there is any Transshipment from a higher Tariff Country, then that Tariff will be added on to the Tariff that Indonesia is paying."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Fox Business said the administration is "about to announce a rash of trade deals in the coming days."
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the White House may be in favor of a bill that would authorize new sanctions and tariffs against Russia’s supporters, and he urged the EU to put in place similar measures.