President Donald Trump has begun posting the country specific tariff rate announcements on his Truth Social account.

Beginning with Japan and South Korea, President Trump is sending letters to each nation not currently in direct negotiations with the USA.  Japan example below:

Both Japan and South Korea are assigned 25% baseline tariff rates “separate from all Sectoral Tariffs.”  Additionally, if the nation participates in transnational shipping, the rate attempting to be avoided will be applied to the country violating the trade position.

Example:  South Korea (25%) acts as a passthrough for a country with a higher tariff rate like Vietnam, 40%.  If South Korea is caught engaging in transnational shipping then the applied tariff rate on the South Korean goods is 40%.

There are eight country notifications on Truth Social from today.