US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened more countries with high tariffs, as analysts warn of the salvo’s geopolitical costs.
Trump’s letters dictating higher rates effective Aug. 1 hit Southeast Asia especially hard, creating a “tariff wall” around the export-dependent region, the Financial Times wrote.
That has rankled Washington’s partners, some of whom have called for more intraregional trade. “Many in Asia are going to ask, ‘Is this how the U.S. treats its friends?‘” one analyst said.
Trump sees the tariffs less as an economic tool, The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman wrote, and more as a mechanism to “rebalance global influence”: He threatened Brazil with 50% duties, accusing the country of a “witch hunt” against former President Jair Bolsonaro.