We now have a clearer picture of Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs and how they will affect other trading nations, including the United States itself.

The US administration claims these tariffs on imports will reduce the US trade deficit and address what it views as unfair and non-reciprocal trade practices. Trump said this would

forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed.

The “reciprocal” tariffs are designed to impose charges on other countries equivalent to half the costs they supposedly inflict on US exporters through tariffs, currency manipulation and non-tariff barriers levied on US goods.

Each nation received a tariff number that will apply to most goods. Notable sectors exempt include steel, aluminium and motor vehicles, which are already subject to new tariffs.

The minimum baseline tariff for each country is 10 per cent. But many countries received higher numbers, including Vietnam (46 per cent), Thailand (36 per cent), China (34 per cent), Indonesia (32 per cent), Taiwan (32 per cent) and Switzerland (31 per cent).

The tariff number for China is in addition to an existing 20 per cent tariff – which when added to Trump’s retaliatory extra 50 per cent this week – makes the total tariff applied to Chinese imports is 104 per cent.

Countries assigned 10........

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