♦ United States Trade Representative: 397-page detailed analysis of global trade relationships with the United States. The 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) is the 40th report in an annual series that highlights significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports, U.S. foreign direct investment, and U.S. electronic commerce. This document is a companion piece to the President’s 2025 Trade Policy Agenda and 2024 Annual Report, published by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on February 28, 2025. SEE REPORT HERE
♦ President Trump Executive Order: Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits. READ EXECUTIVE ORDER HERE:
♦ ANNEX #1 – Outlining the tariff rate per country as assigned. SEE HERE
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♦ ANNEX #2: 37-pages outlining the products that are exempted from the globally specified tariffs. The tariffs generally target completed goods, finished durable goods, not necessarily the chemical components or compounds needed if we are to manufacture or build the product in the USA. Therefore Annex 2 provides the list of all products, chemicals, components and compounds that are exempt from the tariff program. [SEE EXEMPTIONS HERE]
♦ USTR Calculations for Tariff Rates – Reciprocal tariffs are calculated as the tariff rate necessary to balance bilateral trade deficits between the U.S. and each of our trading partners. This calculation assumes that persistent trade deficits are due to a combination of tariff and non-tariff factors that prevent trade from balancing. Tariffs work through direct reductions of imports. SEE FORMULA HERE
♦ Special Handling Status for China: China has an additional set of import duty rules and regulations that pertain to the removal of de minimis exemptions for China. These rule changes only impact China. [Additional Executive Order] CLOSING LOOPHOLES IN THE TARIFF SYSTEM: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order eliminating duty-free de minimis treatment for low-value imports from China. [De Minimis Rule Change]
One of the first things people are noticing is the depth of the targeting program. Factually, many of the countries targeted to receive reciprocal tariffs, only produce the products they manufacture as extensions of the American economy. The country itself doesn’t have the native market, industry, or expertise, etc. Corporations have exploited the cheap labor and resources in these types of countries, and they only produce [WIDGET-X] ‘to sell to us‘. We are their only customer.
For those countries, and for those with limited options of market expansion (ex. Vietnam), they have no option other than to concede to the tariff pressure and lower any import barrier as part of a free trade agreement. These less developed countries will be the first to equalize tariff and non-tariff barriers; however, even with their markets wide open they will not be able to purchase U.S. products, because they simply don’t have the money or consumer market for our expensive stuff.
Summary: The trade reset and tariff program directly target historic imbalances. If the regime is executed as currently drawn up, the 80-year-old Marshal Plan of one-way tariffs by the EU/U.K effectively comes to an end. China has special status in all of the trade considerations and has several unilateral targeting mechanisms within the trade reset that are directed specifically toward them.
