Trump says those not sent tariff letters may face blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on Aug 1
US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump has said that trading partners that had not yet received tariff letters would likely face blanket tariffs, “whether it is 20 per cent or 15 per cent”, which would be worked out and applicable from August 1.
If Trump does not plan to send many more tariff letters, so far sent to 23 countries including Canada, on Thursday, then India may be bracketed with other countries that have not got letters yet and get assigned a blanket tariff.
The tariff rates that Indian products may face after August 1, in case a India-US trade deal is not struck by that time, may be lower than the 26 per cent reciprocal tariffs announced on Indian products on April 2, going by the US President’s latest estimate.
“Not everybody has to get a letter. You know that. We’re just setting our tariffs…We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20% or 15%. We’ll work that out now,” Trump said in an interview to US media on Thursday.
Trump’s reciprocal tariffs announced on trade partners on April 2, aimed at bringing down the US trade deficit, were initially paused till July 9. But the deadline was then extended by the US government to August 1 after just a couple of deals were reached within the timeframe. This included a limited trade pact with the UK and one with Vietnam the details of which are not finalised.
The Indian team of negotiators had returned from Washington DC on July 2-3 after failing to reach an agreement on an interim trade deal partly due to stiff demands from the US, including in agriculture and dairy.
“Apart from protecting its sensitivities, India also wants offers in its areas of interest, including labour intensive products, that would give it an advantage over other competitors in the American market,” a source tracking the matter said.
With the tariffs now postponed to August 1, India and the US are set to resume their trade talks, the Indian chief negotiator said on Thursday. The team of Indian negotiators is likely to go back to Washington DC next week, the source added.
Canada was the latest country that received a tariff letter from the US on Thursday with a 35 per cent tariff assigned from August 1.
Other countries that received tariff letters include Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Libya, Malaysia, Moldova, Myanmar, Philippines, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Tunisia. Mostly the new tariffs are in alignment with the reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2.
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Published on July 11, 2025
