Trump rates of global reactions

Scott Simon, Host:

And as we have just heard, American factories are now reducing jobs and are things such as toys and devices more expensive. We now turn to NPR correspondents around the world to see how part of the hardest hit land in the country through steep walks on goods sent to the US, respond, from the middle -east to Asia and South Africa. We start in Canada with Jackie Northam from NPR.

Jackie Northam, Byline: Canada – one of the largest trading partners in the US – was not saved from these last rates. Trump rattled on many goods to 35%, with reference to what he crossed a stream of Fentanyl that crossed the border, despite many sources that dispute that claim, including American customs and border protection. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was chosen about three months ago, largely believed that he could wring Trump, said he was disappointed, but that Canada will continue to negotiate with the US about the trade relationship. These latest rates do not affect products that meet the free trade agreement between the countries, but levies on Canadian steel and aluminum are 50%.

Jamie Tronnes: The Chill on Investment is very real between Canada and the United States.

Northam: Jamie Tronnes, executive director of the Center for North American Prosperity and Security, a Canadian think tank, said these taxes will shrink and harm the Canadian economy.

Tronnnes: We see many factories and other companies say: maybe we should not expand now. Maybe we shouldn’t build that second factory.

Northam: Trump’s treatment of Canada, from belittling his former Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to promise to make the country the 51st state, has astonished and angry many Canadians. It has led to a wave of nationalism and boycots of American products and travel to the American Tronnes says that Canada realizes that it must pay to be an ally.

Jackie Northam, NPR News.

Kate Bartlett, Byline: in South Africa the rates were a mixed bag. The small kingdom of Lesotho received some respite, after he has succeeded in negotiating the US from no less than 50% to only 15%. However, as the Handelsminister of Lesotho, Mokhethi Shelile, told last month, no deal would undo the damage due to the threat alone.

Mokhethi Shelile: It arrives a little late for the lost jobs. It will take at least six months before things come back.

Bartlett: The impoverished country explained a national state of disaster in July, after a lack of orders by screaming buyers ensured that factories closed and fired employees. While Lesotho was reduced, South Africa – the largest economy in the region – could not successfully negotiate with the Trump administration. It is confronted with 30% rates that can be disastrous for its agricultural sector. The currency, the edge, refueled on the rates news and reached its lowest level in months. On Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters intensive negotiations with the US before the new deadline of 7 August.

(Soundbite of archived recording)

President Cyril Ramaphosa: they are a huge economy – the largest economy in the world. We must therefore respond to the tariff proposals of the United States.

Bartlett: But President Trump has had the country in his sights this year and wrongly accuses the government of prosecuting the white minority. The government now says that it is looking at diversification of its export markets. China is already the largest trading partner.

For NPR News I am Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg.

Jane Arraf, Byline: here in the middle -east there are a few illuminating examples. Syria was beaten yesterday with the highest rates, 41%. It is a bit confusing because President Trump recently ordered to eliminate radical trade sanctions imposed on Syria during the previous regime, which was overthrown last year. He said it was to give Syria a chance on quantity. The thing is, it will not have much impact on the American Gilberto Garcia-Vazquez is the chief economist at DataWheel, an American economic data company. He says last year that the US has only imported $ 10.7 million in goods from Syria and exported around 2 million.

Gilberto Garcia-Vazquez: they are only symbolic, right? They will not cause any disruption in the trade, because there is usually no trade between these countries.

Arraf: But here in Jordan there is much more at stake. The bilateral trade last year reached $ 3.5 billion, the majority of it was justified by Jordanian clothing made here in free trade zones and sold to some of the most popular American clothing companies. The rate percentage of Jordan is now 15%. That may not sound like much, but it replaces an agreement of zero rates that have been present for more than ten years. Economists expect higher in-Jordan clothing costs in the US and here in Jordan, an poor country that is an ally of the US, there are fear of job losses.

Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman.

Michael Sullivan, Byline: Southeast Asia did not work too badly, with the six largest exporters in the region tagged with rates of 20% or lower, including Thailand and Cambodia, who saw their proposed rates reduced from 36% to 19% – according to both. After a strict warning from President Trump last weekend, that number did not come for a deal last weekend, unless the two ended an almost week -long border conflict that more than 40 people left death and more than 200,000 displaced.

On Monday, both parties agreed with a cease -the fire, although shaky. Malaysia also came to 19%, who also called Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim manageable. The Trump government had already agreed to 19% rates with Indonesia and the Philippines, and 20% with Vietnam. Singapore was the only country that secured the minimum rate of 10% – no surprise since the US enjoying a trade surplus with the city state.

The Kleine Laos and the Myanmar torn by war were hammered – each hit with some of the highest rates in the world, 40%. Nor does it act with the US, but the punitive rates are another blow to two struggling economies, which are already deep dependent on the neighboring China, which can now be more. China is generally the leading trading partner of Southeast Asia. China and the US are still negotiating their tariff agreement, without reaching a deal earlier this week after their last conversations.

For NPR News I am Michael Sullivan in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

(Soundbite by Joan Shelley Song, “Over And Even”)

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