Trump says there will be at least seven trade announcements on Wednesday
Donald Trump said he will make trade announcements related to at least seven countries on Wednesday.
“We will be releasing a minimum of 7 Countries having to do with trade, tomorrow morning, with an additional number of Countries being released in the afternoon,” the US president said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.
The post comes after Trump on Monday sent letters to Japan and South Korea saying the US would impose 25 per cent levies on them from August 1. South Africa would face 30 per cent tariffs, he said, while also announcing big levies on 11 other countries.
US stocks finish mixed after Trump’s latest tariff announcements
US stocks ended the day mixed as investors delivered a relatively muted overall reaction to Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcements.
The S&P 500 closed 0.1 per cent lower on Tuesday, while the Nasdaq Composite finished fractionally higher. Both gauges swung between small gains and losses throughout the course of the trading day.
Trump on Tuesday announced plans to impose a 50 per cent tariff on copper imports and a 20 per cent levy on pharmaceuticals. He also warned there would be “no extensions” to a new August 1 deadline when tariffs would go into effect, having on Monday pushed that date out from July 9.
The dollar gave up gains from earlier in the session to trade flat.
Trump’s tariffs on copper imports may help China, says Canada’s mining association
US President Donald Trump’s proposal to hit copper imports with a 50 per cent tariff may help China’s economy, according to the head of the Mining Association of Canada.
Pierre Gratton said billions of dollars’ worth of midstream products, such as copper piping, goes to the US as part of an integrated North American industry.
“At first glance this does not seem to be a good idea,” he said. “This is going to hurt US manufacturing and may even strengthen Chinese manufacturing of copper products.”
Gratton said the US does not have enough copper refining capacity or smelters and relies on Canadian imports.
“We really need to know more, like is this part of Canada’s trade negotiations with the US?” he said.