Smaller countries are not escaping the trade policies of President Donald Trump.
In a conversation with reporters this week, Trump said he plans to hit smaller nations, including countries in Africa and the Caribbean, with tariffs over 10 percent.
“We’ll probably set one tariff for all of them,” Trump said, adding that it could be “a little over 10% tariff” on goods from at least 100 nations, according to multiple media outlets.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the nations with goods being taxed at these rates would be in Africa and the Caribbean, places that generally don’t do a lot of trade with the U.S..
The president had this month been posting letters to roughly two dozen countries and the European Union that simply levied a tariff rate to be charged starting Aug. 1. Those countries generally faced tax rates on the goods near the rates announced by Trump April 2.
Trump also said he would “probably” announce tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs at the “end of the month.”
Multiple media outlets reported that Trump said he’d start out at a lower tariff rate and give companies a year to build domestic factories before they faced higher import tax rates. Trump said computer chips would face a similar style of tariffs.
