Tariffs, Trump: 'Maybe letter to EU in two days'. And threatens more tariffs of 10% for Brics and 200% on pharmaceuticals

Donald Trump announced that Brics countries will be subject to additional tariffs of 10% 'very soon'. "Anyone who is part of the Brics will soon receive a 10 per cent tariff rate," he said during a government meeting on live TV at the White House.

"We are probably two days away from sending a letter to the European Union. A letter is an agreement." US President Donald Trump said this, referring to the letters sent to trading partners on tariffs.

"We regret this trade war, which increases costs, damages jobs and exacerbates global inequality. Europe needs a firm and united strategy, with clear guidelines, concrete consequences and readiness to act. We will not bow to bullying. It is time to lead a fair and rules-based global trade'. This was written on X by the president of the Socialists and Democrats, Iraxte Garcia Perez, at the end of the meeting between the MEPs of the same group and the EU chief negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, on the sidelines of the plenary session of the Euro Parliament in Strasbourg.

Japan expresses regret over the Trump administration's decision to impose 25% tariffs, but still hopes for a deal by the new 1 August deadline. Following the words of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba - who called the US move 'extremely regrettable' and reiterated that his government will not give up defending national interests in the upcoming consultations - Chief Negotiator Ryosei Akazawa pledged to accelerate bilateral negotiations to reach a 'mutually beneficial agreement with Washington within the extended deadline'. Akazawa spoke with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick by phone for about 40 minutes, and told the press that he will devote himself to compiling a dossier making the best use of the approximately three weeks available. Both Ishiba and Akazawa argued that recent rounds of negotiations had prevented the imposition of even higher tariffs, as Trump had previously hinted at tariffs of 30% or 35%. The new tariffs of 25%, slightly higher than the 24% initially announced for Tokyo will come into effect on 1 August, but Trump has left the door open to revision through negotiations. The seven ministerial meetings ta the two allied countries, including the summit between Trump and Ishiba on the sidelines of the G7 in Canada in mid-June, did not lead to substantial progress. Japan's trade surplus in 2024 was around ¥8.6 trillion (€51 billion) with the world's largest economy, and the delegations remain distant mainly over the treatment of Japan's auto sector. In the fiscal year 2024, automobiles and the ancillary market reached a total value of ¥7.4 trillion, accounting for 34.2 per cent of all Japanese exports to the US.

'A tax increase that goes against growth and is arbitrary'. This is how the Wall Street Journal editorial board comments on 'Tariff man' Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea. The damage they will cause 'is considerable given the volume of trade': the US imported $148.4 billion worth of goods from Japan and $131.6 billion from South Korea last year, collectively 8.6 per cent of total US imports. "It is easy to see that Donald Trump's tariffs will hit American companies and consumers," adds the Wall Street Journal board referring to machinery, appliances and medical equipment imported from the two countries. "A crumbling illusion is that Trump is imposing tariffs in the name of free trade. He is imposing them,' the Wall Street Journal board points out, 'because he likes them as economic policy.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said that the EU is 'ready to take countermeasures' against the US if they fail to reach a fair deal with Trump. The Guardian writes that. 'We want an agreement with the Americans, but I will make it clear: the agreement must be fair,' Klingbeil pointed out to the Bundestag. 'And if we cannot reach a fair agreement with the US, the EU must take countermeasures to protect our economy. US tariffs threaten jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. This trade war hurts us all and must end soon'.

"From what we understand the United States intends to postpone to 1 August" the deadline for reaching an agreement on trade tariffs with the European Union as well, instead of the 9 July hitherto envisaged, however "our goal remains to find an agreement before the deadline". This was stated by EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis during the press conference after the Ecofin meeting.

"What we want to achieve," he added, "is an agreement, a solution with the US and to avoid further escalation of trade tensions. We worked with the deadline of 9 July, but as I said it seems that the US now wants to postpone the deadline to 9 August. This gives us more time, but we remain focused, the negotiations are moving forward'.

"The citizens need certainty: we have full confidence in the work of Commissioner Sefcovic and we are aware that without an agreement on tariffs we will have a serious problem of predictability. We also want to work together to show the US that we are their best partner'. This was said by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, in a joint conference with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, at the end of the presentation of the six-month presidency at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

"The shock" produced by US tariffs "will manifest itself on inflation and global growth, but there will not be a recession, because other countries are adopting more expansive fiscal policies", especially Germany and China. This was explained by Bruno Rovelli, chief investment strategist at Blackrock Italy, during the presentation of the group's mid-year outlook. "The US tariffs approach takes us back to the 1930s," Rovelli continues, adding how Blackrock's 30 June estimates for average tariffs at 15% have been adjusted upwards slightly in light of the latest developments on negotiations. "However, we doubt that we will return to the levels of 2 April, where the average was 25%. Because such a rate would have sub-optimal effects on production chains for everyone." According to Blackrock Italy's chief investment strategist, tariffs are an attempt to "reconfigure the global economic order as it has been constituted over the last 30-35 years". However, 'in our opinion there are factors that limit the ability of a country like the US to implement it. That is why to a large extent the Liberation Day tariffs have gone backwards'. On the other hand, the tariffs themselves are to be read as 'an attempt to reduce the US trade deficit', but also as a form of 'restrictive fiscal policy', when juxtaposed with the tax package (the Big Beautiful Bill) passed by Congress. 'Nominally, fiscal policy appears expansive, but by adding tariffs it is no longer,' explains Rovelli.

Following the Trump administration's decision on Monday to impose 30 per cent tariffs on South Africa, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed on X his country's willingness to continue negotiations. "South Africa will continue its diplomatic efforts to establish more balanced and mutually beneficial trade relations with the United States."

'We welcome the US government's commitment to change the tariff by 30 per cent at the end of negotiations with the United States,' President Ramaphosa added.

Businesses' assessments of the general economic situation in the second quarter of the year "remained unfavourable overall, but the negative balance between improving and worsening assessments was significantly reduced". The outlook on the development of current demand 'returned positive for the first time in three quarters, driven mainly by the domestic component'. But this does not dispel fears about the future: '32 per cent of manufacturing firms and 12 per cent of service firms reported negative repercussions from the announcements and the implementation of US tariffs'. This was reported in the survey on inflation and growth expectations carried out by the Bank of Italy on a sample of companies with over 50 employees.

China takes a negative view of the new round of import tariffs of between 25 per cent and 40 per cent announced by US President Donald Trump against an initial group of 14 US trading partners, the effectiveness of which has, however, been postponed until 1 August. 'There will be no winner from the tariffs war,' commented Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.

The US has offered the EU a deal that would maintain a 10% base tariff on all EU products, with some exceptions for sensitive sectors such as aviation and alcohol. Politico reports this, citing an EU diplomat and a national official. The Trump administration had said on Sunday that it would postpone the deadline for the return of its generalised tariffs to 1 August. Tariffs are then expected to return to 2 April levels for countries that fail to conclude new trade agreements with the US. Yesterday, Trump started sending letters to countries indicating their tariff rates, starting with South Korea and Japan, which will be subject to 25% tariffs as of 1 August.

'Truly deplorable'. This is how the premier of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba, described US President Donald Trump's decision to impose 25% tariffs on his country, a decision that the tycoon announced in a letter addressed to Ishiba himself and published yesterday on his social network Truth. Ishiba, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo, added that bilateral talks will continue in order to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

It is necessary to strive for an open world economy and oppose unilateralism and trade protectionism. So said Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the 17th Brics Summit. Speaking during a meeting on the sidelines of the plenary with World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Li emphasised that US tariffs have had a serious impact on the international economic and trade order. In this context, the international community has a stronger demand to safeguard the multilateral trading system and increasingly expects the WTO to play a more active role, he added. Economic globalisation is an irreversible trend in history, Li noted, finally emphasising that Beijing has abundant resources and means to counter negative external impacts.

China's Premier Li Qiang attends the first plenary session of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 6, 2025. BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday are expected to decry US President Donald Trump's "indiscriminate" trade tariffs, saying they are illegal and risk hurting the global economy. (Photo by Mauro PIMENTEL / AFP)

Regarding the negotiations with the US on tariffs 'I cannot say much new, because things are constantly evolving', 'so far, I think the Commission has handled the tariffs issue very intelligently. We have to keep the dialogue with the US open, without escalation. Try to find solutions. And I am very confident that this will also be the approach going forward'. So says the Danish Minister of Economic Affairs, Stephanie Lose, of the EU presidency on arrival at the Ecofin meeting.

Trump postpones tariffs until 1 August. More time therefore for negotiations with the EU. The US president called the tariffs 'definitive but not 100%' and opened the door to 'different offers' from the affected countries. In the meantime, Washington has decided on tariffs ranging from 25% to 40% for seven states deemed uncooperative: there are also Japan, South Korea and South Africa. Tokyo speaks of an 'extremely regrettable move'. Beijing assures that it will 'defend its rights'.

Further reading

Tariffs, Trump: first 12 letters at 18, new rates from 1 August. Mattarella: 'EU is an open trade network'

07 July 2025