WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump marked 200 days back in office on Wednesday by again hitting nations around the world with increased tariffs, days after slapping Canada with a 35 per cent duty.
“BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS ARE NOW FLOWING INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!” Trump posted on social media just after the duties came into effect.
Trump escalated his trade war last week by hitting Canada with a baseline 35 per cent tariff that applies only to goods not covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA.
Just after midnight on Thursday, U.S. tariffs on goods from more than 60 other nations and the European Union were increased. Duties range from a low of 10 per cent to 50 per cent on Brazil.
The EU, Japan and South Korea — which brokered agreement frameworks with the Trump administration — saw tariffs increase to 15 per cent. Bangladesh and Vietnam were hit with 20 per cent duties. Switzerland saw its tariff increase to 39 per cent.
Nations are also being hit with Trump’s separate tariffs on steel, aluminum, copper and automobiles.
“Tariffs are flowing into the USA at levels not thought even possible!” Trump posted on social media.
In fact, American tariffs are now at a level not seen in the U.S. in almost a century. The Budget Lab at Yale, a non-partisan policy research centre, has said Americans will see an average tax of 18.3 per cent on imported products, the highest rate since 1934.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford told media outlet CNN on Wednesday that “a tariff on Canada is a tax on the American people.”
“This is hurting the American people,” Ford said, adding that Canada and other countries are “diversifying our trade.”
Signs are emerging that Trump’s tariffs are starting to drag down the American economy. After the release of a bleak job report last week, Trump fired the head of the agency that produces the monthly figures.
The U.S. Commerce Department said inflation was ticking slightly upward in June.
The greatest hurdle facing Trump’s ongoing efforts to realign global trade may be the courts.
Last week, Trump’s use of a national security statute for the so-called “Liberation Day” duties and fentanyl-related tariffs faced tough questions from federal appellate judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The judges asked the Trump administration’s lawyer about his use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act of 1977 to impose duties — despite the fact the word “tariff” is found nowhere in the statute.
No decision was issued from the bench last week but the pending ruling was clearly weighing on the president just before his global tariffs came into place.
“THE ONLY THING THAT CAN STOP AMERICA’S GREATNESS WOULD BE A RADICAL LEFT COURT THAT WANTS TO SEE OUR COUNTRY FAIL!” Trump posted on social media just before midnight.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2025.
