Trump announces new tariffs of up to 40% on a growing number of countries

Published

2 months ago

July 8, 2025

CNN
—

President Donald Trump cranked up the pressure Monday on America’s trading partners, firing off letters to heads of several countries, informing them of their new tariff rate. But at the same time, Trump took some of the edge off by signing an executive action Monday to extend the date for all “reciprocal” tariffs, with the exception of China, to August 1.

Those “reciprocal” tariffs were expected to go into effect Wednesday. In some cases, the letters Trump sent specify new “reciprocal” tariff rates that are higher or lower compared to April levels.

Trump was not definitive when asked if the new August 1 deadline was “firm” ahead of a dinner at the White House on Monday night. “I would say firm, but not 100% firm. If they call up and they say would like to do something a different way, we’re going to be open to that.”

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung were the first recipients of Trump’s letters.

Both countries will face a 25% tariff come August 1, according to the letters, but both nations said on Tuesday they plan to engage in further talks with the US, with Japan saying it was working towards a trade deal.

Trump announced similar letters were sent to Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Myanmar and Laos, informing their leaders of new tariff rates as high as 40%.

Then later in the day, he posted seven new letters sent to leaders of Tunisia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (which is set to reach a 30% tariff), Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Cambodia and Thailand, putting the running total at 14 letters delivered on Monday.

In the letters, Trump said he takes particular issue with the trade deficits the United States runs with them, meaning America buys more goods from there compared to the amount that American businesses export to those countries. Trump also said the tariffs would be set in response to other policies that he deems are impeding American goods from being sold abroad.

He encouraged country leaders to manufacture goods in the United States to avoid tariffs.

This comes ahead of his initial 12:01 a.m. ET July 9 deadline for countries to make deals or face the threat of higher tariffs. That date marks the end of the pause on “reciprocal” tariffs, which briefly went into place in April. Since then, impacted countries have faced a minimum 10% tariff.

In all 14 letters, Trump threatened to raise tariffs even higher than the specified rates if a country retaliated against the United States with tariffs of their own. Trump said these rates would be “separate from all Sectoral Tariffs,” meaning, for instance, the new tariff won’t be stacked on top of the current auto tariff of 25%, the White House confirmed. That would apply to any future sector-specific tariffs, too, a White House official said.

Despite the many trade qualms Trump has broadcast as having with the European Union, prompting him to threaten higher tariffs on several occasions, the trading bloc appears to have not received a letter from him.

“We’re not going to comment on letters that we haven’t received,” Olof Gill, a European Commission spokesperson, told reporters Monday afternoon.

“My understanding is that we can now expect an extension of the current status quo until August 1 to give further time for the EU and the US to reach an agreement in principle on a mutually beneficial agreement that works for both sides,” Simon Harris, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, said in a statement on Monday.

Collectively, the US bought $465 billion worth of goods last year from the 14 countries that received letters on Monday, according to US Commerce Department figures. Japan and South Korea, America’s sixth- and seventh-largest trading partners, accounted for 60% of that, shipping a total of $280 billion worth of goods to the US last year.

The prospect of higher tariffs on goods could translate into higher prices for American consumers. Among the top goods America imports from South Korea and Japan, for example, are cars, auto parts, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and machinery. Trump has placed or threatened to levy industry-specific tariffs on many of these goods.

In April, Japan was set to face a 24% tariff, while South Korea was set to face a 25% tariff. Now, both face the same 25% rate.

Japan’s Ishiba, convened a cabinet task force on Tuesday after receiving the letter and voiced Tokyo’s deep “regret that the U.S. government has imposed additional tariffs and announced plans to raise tariff rates.” He said the country would continue negotiations with the United States to seek a bilateral trade deal that benefits both countries.

South Korea’s Finance Ministry said in a statement that it would monitor developments closely, but warned that if market fluctuations become “excessive” the government would “take immediate and bold action in accordance with its contingency plans,” though it did not immediately detail what that action may entail.

While the other countries ship less to the US compared to Japan and South Korea, in many cases they are among the top foreign sources of goods.

For instance, South Africa, which is set to face 30% tariffs, accounted for roughly half of the platinum the US imported from other countries last year and was the top foreign supplier of it.

Malaysia, which is set to face a 24% tariff versus the 25% rate Trump announced in April, was the second-top source of semiconductors shipped to the US last year, with Americans purchasing $18 billion worth of them from there.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Cambodia are top manufacturing hubs for apparel and accessories.

Trump’s letter to Cambodia’s prime minister threatened a tariff rate of 36%, 13 percentage points lower than what had been in place in April, before it was paused.

Stocks dropped lower midday after Trump announced the first batch of letters and continued to fall as Trump announced tariffs of varying rates from 25% to 40% on countries including Myanmar, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Laos and South Africa.

Despite Trump saying country-specific tariffs won’t be stacked on top of sectorial ones, shares of auto companies that have a heavy manufacturing presence in Japan and South Korea declined sharply. US-listed shares in major Japanese automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda dropped by 4%, 7.16% and 3.86%, respectively.

Those declines, however, may reflect the increased likelihood of Trump potentially raising tariffs on cars from the two countries should they retaliate against the general 25% tariffs, were they to go into effect, by slapping higher tariffs on American goods.

“These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship,” Trump ended the letters before signing off.

The Dow closed lower by 422 points, or 0.94%. The S&P 500 fell 0.79% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.92%. The three major indexes posted their worst day in about three weeks. Meanwhile, stocks in Asia started Tuesday trading flat.

Source link

Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight, odds: 1 bettor wagers $2 million on Terence Crawford to win

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2025

Ben Fawkes

Terence Crawford and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez square off on Saturday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in one of the biggest fights of the year.

Several bettors will have a very large rooting interest.

A bettor at BetMGM wagered $2 million on Crawford to win the fight at +140 odds on Friday night. The wager would win $2.8 million and is the largest reported wager on the fight.

One bettor at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas also wagered $715,000 on Crawford to win the fight at +140 odds, which would win just over $1 million ($1.001 million to be exact). Other sportsbooks have taken six-figure wagers on Crawford as well.

“We just took a very large bet on Crawford to win and by KO,” Andrew Babakitis, risk manager at the Westgate Las Vegas Super Book, told Yahoo Sports via text message on Friday afternoon. “Price moved from -180 to -160 on Canelo. We have three times as many bets on Crawford. Book loses on both fighters by KO, we are likely going to need a decision if we want to win on the fight.”

Alvarez opened as a -200 favorite at BetMGM, but is down to -150 on the three-way line, while Crawford opened as a +175 underdog and is currently +150. While only 23% of wagers are on Alvarez to win, nearly half the total dollars wagered (42%) at BetMGM are on Canelo, while the betting public is backing the underdog, with 33% of wagers on Crawford to win.

Nearly half the bets (44%) and total dollars wagered (44%) were on a tie, as of Friday morning.

Source link

ICE agent shoots dead man who tried to drive at agents, officials say

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2025

Mike Wendling

US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot and killed a man near Chicago on Friday after he allegedly drove his car at a group of agents.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said ICE was trying to arrest the man, but he resisted and drove towards the group. An agent was then dragged along by his vehicle.

The agent, who the department said feared for his life, drew his gun and opened fire.

The driver, Silverio Villegas-Gonzales, was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after, officials said.

“During a vehicle stop, the suspect resisted and attempted to drive his vehicle into the arrest team, striking an officer and subsequently dragging him as he fled the scene,” the statement said.

The ICE agent suffered “severe injuries” in the incident, officials said, but was in a stable condition in hospital.

The Department of Homeland security said Mr Villegas-Gonzales had a history of reckless driving and was an undocumented migrant. He entered the country “at an unknown date and time,” they said.

A spokesperson for the local police department in Franklin Park said they were not involved in the incident.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in an online post: “This is a developing situation and the people of Illinois deserve a full, factual accounting of what’s happened today to ensure transparency and accountability.”

Franklin Park is a suburb of around 18,000 people near O’Hare Airport north-west of Chicago. Around half of the population of the village is Hispanic.

Immigration officials have been ramping up enforcement activities in the Chicago area this week on the orders of the Trump administration.

Source link

No Taylor Swift Deposition In Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni Case: Judge

Published

4 hours ago

September 13, 2025

Dominic Patten

To paraphrase Taylor Swift‘s ‘Blank Space,” the superstar had a day that was a bit of a nightmare dressed like a legal dream with Justin Baldoni.

Now, just more than 24 hours after the It Ends With Us director-star again sought to drag Swift into his seemingly never-ending docket drama with Blake Lively, the federal judge overseeing the case has put the boot to any deposition from the Eras Tour performer.

At the same time, Judge Lewis Liman delivered a win to Lively. The Another Simple Favor star was granted a 10-day extension on depositions for Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios co-founders Steve Sarowitz and Jamey Heath as the discovery process moves into its final weeks.

“The Wayfarer Parties have filed a response opposing Lively’s request and seeking their own extension of the deposition deadline to the end of October for the purpose of scheduling deposition of non-party Taylor Swift,” the judge, the sibling of director Doug Liman, also wrote in a four-page order filed just now.

“The Wayfarer Parties contend that their requested extension is necessary because Swift’s preexisting professional obligations now prevent her from being deposed within the current discovery window,” he added, summarizing the effort to skip over Swift’s October 3 release of her new album The Life of a Showgirl and have her sit for questioning by lawyers sometime between October 20-25 over these nearly yearlong sexual harassment and retaliation allegations.

As he has in the past, Liman cut to the chase:

“The Wayfarer Parties have not similarly demonstrated good cause for their requested extension. The only justification they have provided for the extension is their assertion that Swift’s preexisting professional obligations now prevent her from appearing for a deposition prior to October 20, 2025. Importantly, however, the Wayfarer Parties have provided no discussion of when they began attempting to schedule the deposition. Discovery has been ongoing in this case for approximately six months. The Wayfarer Parties previously requested Swift’s deposition in May 2025 before ultimately withdrawing the subpoena. They have offered no evidence that they have served a renewed subpoena on Swift. Thus, at most, the Wayfarer Parties have demonstrated that scheduling the deposition now presents logistical difficulties; that does not answer the question of why the deposition ‘“’could not have been conducted earlier.” Having failed to demonstrate appropriate diligence, the requested extension is denied.”

Following a day that saw lawyers for Lively and Swift contradict the assertion from Baldoni’s side that the godmother to one of Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ children had “agreed” to the deposition and the requested extension because of the lead-up to her new album, there was silence from Baldoni’s camp after Liman’s order dropped. Reps for Baldoni did not respond to a request for comment.

For that matter, reps for the recently engaged Swift also did not reply, but that isn’t much of a surprise based on what her side said earlier in the day.

“My client did not agree to a deposition, but if she is forced into a deposition, we advised (after first hearing about the deposition just three days ago) that her schedule would accommodate the time required during the week of October 20 if the parties were able to work out their disputes,” attorney Douglas Baldridge wrote to Liman on Friday afternoon.

With the trial date of March 9, 2026 looming for Lively’s action against Baldoni and Wayfarer over what actually occurred on the set of IEWU and the so-called smear campaign that erupted around the Sony-distributed film’s premiere, it is unclear whether this will be the last we hear of Swift in the case. In May, Baldoni’s lead lawyer Bryan Freedman tried to subpoena Swift, but as Liman noted today, they put the kibosh on their action after a days-long media frenzy. Later, the Wayfarer team said it got what they needed voluntarily from Swift — who may or may not be on the outs with her old pal Lively. An assertion that Swift’s Baldridge later contested.

Earlier today, Lively’s lawyers called Team Baldoni’s desire to get IEWU soundtrack contributor Swift in the thick of the case just another move to “fuel their relentless media strategy.”

In that context, today was a success for Baldoni, who is now facing other accusations of verbal abuse and harassment from another woman. However, in a very rudimentary approach, the day belongs to Lively, who got what she wanted on all levels, at least this time.

Source link