WASHINGTON: US customs agents began collecting President Donald Trump’s unilateral 10 per cent tariff on all imports from many countries on Saturday, with higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners due to start next week.

The initial 10pc “baseline” tariff to be paid by US importers took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12:01am ET (0401 GMT), ushering in Trump’s full rejection of the post-World War Two system of mutually agreed tariff rates.

“This is the single biggest trade action of our lifetime,” said Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade lawyer at Hogan Lovells and former White House trade adviser during Trump’s first term.

Shaw told a Brookings Institution event on Thursday that she expected the tariffs to evolve over time as countries seek to negotiate lower rates. “But this is huge. This is a pretty seismic and significant shift in the way that we trade with every country on earth,” she added.

Higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners due to start next week

Trump’s Wednesday tariff announcement shook global stock markets, wiping out $5 trillion in stock market value for S&P 500........

© Dawn Business