US President Donald Trump’s threat of 25% tariffs on Iran’s trading partners is already causing ripples in global commerce.
Trump has embraced “secondary tariffs” as a trade cudgel in his first year back in office: He previously floated duties on any country that buys Russian goods or Venezuelan oil, and imposed 25% tariffs on India for buying Moscow’s oil.
Trump’s latest threat has slowed India’s rice exports to Iran to a trickle; China and the United Arab Emirates are also in the crosshairs, given their multibillion-dollar annual trade with Tehran. Trump’s tactic risks reopening fraught geopolitical wounds with Beijing, following its bruising trade war with Washington that de-escalated late last year.
