United States customs agents began collecting unilateral 10% tariff on all imports from many countries, with higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners due to start next week.
According to reports, the initial 10% baseline tariff took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses, ushering in president Trump’s full rejection of the post-World War Two system of mutually agreed tariff rates.
A trade lawyer at Hogan Lovells and former White House trade adviser during Trump’s first term, Kelly Shaw, said this is the single biggest trade action of our lifetime.
Mrs Shaw stated to newsmen that she expected the tariffs to evolve over time as countries seek to negotiate lower rates.
This is a pretty seismic and significant shift in the way that we trade with every country on earth, she added.
The tariff announcement shook global stock markets to their core, wiping out $5 trillion in stock market value for 500 companies by the close of yesterday.
Prices for oil and commodities were said to have plunged, while investors fled to the safety of government bonds.
Among the countries first hit with the 10% tariff are Australia, Britain, Colombia, Argentina, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
A United States Customs and Border Protection bulletin to shippers indicates no grace period for cargoes on the water at midnight.
However, a US Customs and Border Protection bulletin has provided a 51-day grace period for cargoes loaded onto vessels or planes and in transit to the US before next week.
DailyPost/Esther Asinya
