Trump Announces New Tariffs to Take Effect on August 1, with Maximum Rate Reaching 70%

July 5th. As per CCTV News, on July 4th local time, U.S. President Trump declared that the U.S. government would commence dispatching letters to trade partners starting from that day and set new unilateral tariff rates. Trump mentioned that the new tariffs were likely to come into effect from August 1st. Trump stated that beginning from the 4th, the U.S. would send letters to multiple countries, anticipating that "10 or 12 letters" would be sent on that day, and more letters would be dispatched in the forthcoming days. He said he expected all these letters to be delivered by the 9th. Previously, Trump had set July 9th as the deadline for tariff negotiations. Regarding the newly set tariffs, Trump said, "The tariff rate could range from 60%, 70% to 10%, 20%." He stated, "We have finalized the final text (of the letter), which will basically elucidate how much tariff these countries are going to pay." CNN reported that it is currently uncertain which countries will receive these letters. However, Trump had previously mentioned "criticizing" some trade partners, including the EU and Japan, for being overly tough in negotiations. Trump had threatened earlier this week to send a letter to "spoiled" Japan and set its tariff rate as high as 35%.