After much fanfare and several delays, US tariffs finally came into force on Thursday, August 7, one minute after midnight in Washington. "IT'S MIDNIGHT!!! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS ARE NOW FLOWING INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" US President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social network just minutes after the deadline.

The full impact of this new world trade order remains difficult to assess. However, one thing is clear: The United States has officially broken with decades of free trade, raising the average tariff on imported goods from about 2% in January to 17.3% now, according to data compiled by the Budget Lab at Yale University. This is the highest level since the early 1930s, when American protectionism was at its peak.

Behind this figure lies a significant disparity and lingering uncertainty. Most of the 69 countries targeted by Trump's announcement on July 31 – including those in the European Union – face a 15% tariff. Some countries, however, are hit harder, such as most Southeast Asian nations (between 19% and 20%), Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, South Africa (30%), Iraq, and Serbia (35%).

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