President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed new executive orders eliminating a loophole allowing cheap packages to be shipped directly to Americans consumers and businesses, as well as imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports and on certain kinds of copper.
Earlier in the day, he threatened to impose a 25% tariff on India within days and doubled down on his self-imposed deadline to reimpose a battering ram of import taxes on dozens of trading partners by Aug. 1. The parade of announcements represented a significant escalation ahead of the self-imposed trading deadline and will likely cause price increases for Americans.
The executive order on Brazil came after Trump intervened earlier this month to aid a conservative ally abroad accused of plotting a coup against the Brazilian government. It would delay the import taxes by a week past the original Aug. 1 deadline, while including exemptions for products like orange juice, aircraft parts and many fuels.
Another order would suspend the so-called de minimis treatment that allowed cheap packages totaling $800 or less to avoid customs red tape and most import taxes starting Aug. 29. The provision had been suspended for Chinese packages earlier in the year.
The president also finalized a 50% tariff on semi-finished copper and products derived from copper, three weeks after signaling he was taking that step. U.S. copper prices crashed about 20% on the development, which is slated to kick in on Friday.
Trump said he wanted to impose a steep tariff on India since he believed it stopped treating the U.S. like an equal partner. Negotiations between India and the U.S. have stretched through the year with none of the breakthroughs or skinny trade agreements like the ones announced with other nations.
“Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high,” he wrote in a social media post. He added that India would also be subject to secondary tariffs for continuing to buy large amounts of Russian oil, partly an effort to prod other countries to back off trading with Russia as it continues its war in Ukraine.
Trump followed that up with another post only minutes later. “WE HAVE A MASSIVE TRADE DEFICIT WITH INDIA,” he wrote.
Trump’s threatened 25% tariff on India is larger compared to the import levies threatened on other Asian countries like the Philippines and Vietnam. White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett argued the tariffs will prod India to consider bringing more production to the U.S. and loosen trade restrictions around U.S. exports.
U.S. trade with India totaled $129 billion last year, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Pharmaceuticals, auto components, and other electrical products made up the bulk of Indian exports to the United States. American companies bought more products from India than it sold to the country, setting a trade deficit of $45 billion in 2024. That deficit grew 5% compared to 2023.
Up to now, India has maintained high barriers of entry into its market. The average tariff on India’s imported goods stands at 14%, a level that led Trump to label the country as the “tariff king” in his first term. Yet Indian officials are confident they’ll be able to wrap up a new deal soon. Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal told Reuters last week that the countries were making “fantastic progress” in trade talks so far.
The president later said India was willing to shrink those tariffs for U.S. products “Now they’re willing to cut it very substantially... We’re talking to India now,” said. He later added, “It doesn’t matter too much whether we have a deal or whether we charge them a certain tariff, but you’ll know at the end of this week.”
Trump reiterated his Aug. 1 deadline for dozens of trading partners to strike new trade agreements with the U.S “THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE IS THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE — IT STANDS STRONG, AND WILL NOT BE EXTENDED,” he wrote in a Wednesday morning social media post.
India has served as a back-up destination for U.S. manufacturers after Trump zeroed in on China for the steepest trade penalties, long the top foreign home for the assembly of U.S. products. In May, Apple $AAPL drew a 25% tariff threat from Trump over its Chinese-focused production of the mega-popular iPhone. The tech company has started shifting production to India with the goal of producing at least a quarter of all iPhones there in the near future and shrinking its reliance on the Chinese part of their supply chain.
A tariff on India could prompt a cost increase for the smartphone, since companies and importers tend to shift some of the added price to consumers.