New U.S. Tariffs Target Asia, But Some Countries Stand To Gain

2025-07-08 10:23:00 ET

By Deepali Bhargava

Asia has once again been hit hard with a fresh set of tariff rates announced by President Trump, set to take effect on 1 August. Out of the 14 countries that received tariff letters , nine were in Asia. While there is some respite in terms of reciprocal tariffs being pushed out by about three weeks, most countries are now facing higher or similar rates than those announced on Liberation Day. Here are our key takeaways:

1. The overall outcome is clearly worse than expected. Only three countries in Asia – Cambodia, Bangladesh and Laos – received tariff rates which were lower than on 'Liberation Day'. Despite lower rates, they remain high and penalising in the 35-40% range, much higher than the 20% Vietnam got.
2. These steeper tariffs may reflect Trump’s growing frustration with stalled negotiations with certain countries like Japan, Korea, Thailand and Malaysia, which all received a higher or unchanged tariff rate.
3. More importantly, they seem to signal a broader strategy targeting Asia’s trade links with China – particularly transshipment practices. The letters indicate that transhipped goods will be subject to higher tariffs, but there’s no mention of the rate that’ll be applied.

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