President Donald Trump sent out tariff letters to six smaller U.S. trading partners on Wednesday with a pledge to announce import taxes on other countries later in the day.
None of the countries targeted in the first batch of letters - the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya and Iraq - is a major industrial rival to the United States. It's a sign that a president who has openly expressed his love for the word "tariff" is still infatuated with the idea that taxing trade will create prosperity for America.
Most economic analyses say the tariffs will worsen inflationary pressures and subtract from economic growth, but Trump has used the taxes as a way to assert the diplomatic and financial power of the U.S. on both rivals and allies.
Officials for the European Union, a major trade partner and source of Trump's ire on trade, said Tuesday that they are not expecting to receive a letter from Trump listing tariff rates. The Republican president started the process of announcing tariff rates on Monday by hitting two major U.S. trading partners, Japan and South Korea, with import taxes of 25.
According to Trump's letters, imports from Libya, Iraq and Algeria would be taxed at 30, those from Moldova and Brunei at 25 and those from the Philippines at 20. The tariffs would start Aug. 1.