With international tariffs set to come into effect from tomorrow [1 August 2025], there have been some interesting developments in negotiations between the US and the leadership of its trading partners.
So what has happened in the past 24 hours?
South Korea
US president Donald Trump has announced in a post on social media platform Truth Social that the US has agreed to a “full and comprehensive trade deal” with South Korea.
According to Trump, a tariff rate of 15% for South Korean exports to the US has been agreed. This is lower than the 25% tariff that Trump outlined in a letter to the country’s president, Lee Jae Myung, on 7 July – which was itself halved from the 50% tariff on South Korea that Trump announced during what he referred to as ‘Liberation Day’ on 2 April.
In this post, Trump claims that, as part of the deal, South Korea will give US$350 billion to the US “for investments owned and controlled by the United States”, and purchase $100bn of energy products, including liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Following the agreement of this deal, the South Korean president reportedly said: “We’ve overcome a major hurdle. This agreement is the result of the convergence of the US interest in rebuilding its manufacturing industry and our commitment to enhancing the competitiveness of Korean companies in the US market.”
India
Trump has had some very harsh words to say about India in the past few days. Although describing the country as a “friend” of the US, he has complained publicly about recent trade between the two nations, claiming that the US has done “relatively little business with them because their tariffs are far too high”.
He also wrote on social media that India has “always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia”, which he expresses concerns about due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Supposedly in response to this, Trump claimed that, from 1 August, goods entering the US from India would be subject to a 25% tariff, in addition to a currently undisclosed “penalty”.
India’s Ministry of Commerce & Industry addressed this announcements in a statement on 30 July, which read: “The government [of India] has taken note of a statement by the US president on bilateral trade. The government is studying its implications.
“India and the US have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months. We remain committed to that objective.”
The statement concludes: “The government will take all steps necessary to secure our national interest, as has been the case with other trade agreements including the latest Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the UK.”
In a later post today, Trump wrote: “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.”
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Pakistan
On 30 July, Trump posted that US officials had “concluded a deal with the country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive oil reserves”.
“We are in the process of choosing the oil company that will lead this partnership,” he added.
In a statement to the press, the government of Pakistan confirmed the conclusion of this deal: “In a landmark development, Pakistan and the United States finalised a trade agreement today aimed at boosting bilateral trade, expanding market access, attracting investment, and fostering cooperation in areas of mutual interest.”
The deal, it says, is set to “result in the reduction of reciprocal tariffs, especially on Pakistani exports to the United States”, although no specific figures are given.
It adds that the deal “marks the beginning of a new era of economic collaboration especially in energy, mines and mineral, IT, cryptocurrency and other sectors” and that it is expected to “spur increased US investment in Pakistan’s infrastructure and development projects”.
Canada
The governments of the US and Canada are yet to reach an agreement on trade, with the 1 August deadline for tariffs looming. In a letter dated 10 July, Trump threatened Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney with a 35% tariff, which – if a trade deal is not reached – would come into effect from tomorrow.
Speaking to the press in Ottawa on 30 July, Carney said: “These are complex, they are comprehensive, they are constructive negotiations, with the Americans [that] are ongoing. It’s possible that they may not conclude by 1 August.”
And statements from Trump today seem to suggest further complications to the two countries’ ability to reach a trade deal, as a post on Truth Social appears to insinuate that Canada’s plans to recognise Palestine as a state could impact negotiations.
Brazil
The US president signed an executive order on 30 July, implementing ‘an additional 40% tariff on Brazil, bringing the total tariff amount to 50%’.
This, the White House says, was done in response to ‘recent policies, practices, and actions’ by the government of Brazil that it claims ‘constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States’.
He alleges that Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes “abused his judicial authority to target political opponents, shield corrupt allies, and suppress dissent, often in coordination with other Brazilian officials” and has “authorised politically motivated police raids, arrests, and bank account freezes”.
Trump declared a new national emergency with this latest executive order, claiming: “I am taking the action in this order only for the purpose of addressing the national emergency declared in this order and not for any other purpose.”
Speaking to The New York Times, the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stated: “President Trump’s behaviour strayed from all standards of diplomacy known in the world.”
Addressing Trump’s accusations, he said: “Maybe he doesn’t know that here in Brazil, the judiciary is independent of the executive and legislative branches […] I don’t comment on Supreme Court decisions; when they decide, we comply.”
Legal issues
All this news comes as the US Court of Appeals today reviews evidence in the Trump administration’s appeal of the US Court of International Trade’s ruling in May that Trump’s so-called ‘Liberation Day’ global tariffs “exceed any authority granted to the president by International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to regulate importation by means of tariffs”.
With this going on in the background, and developments happening rapidly in terms of trade negotiations, tomorrow will no doubt bring further news on the topic of trade and tariffs, but Trump asserts that there will not be any extensions to the implementation of these tariffs, which were initially expected to come into effect from 9 July.
“The 1 August deadline is the 1 August deadline – it stands strong, and will not be extended,” Trump posted on Truth Social earlier this week.
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