Trump’s tariffs get going

Excepting the country’s anxious Trade department, Filipinos hardly noticed that Trump last week didn’t yet let the world get off the wild tariff roller coaster ride he had strapped everyone onto.

Months after much of the world tensely endured Trump’s crazy ride — where he flinched, backtracked, and even forgot his bluster about tariffs, earning him the moniker TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) --- his 1 August deadline for new trade deals and US tariff rates came around but was moved to take effect today, 7 August.

The new tariff rates for countries with which the US has a trade surplus — meaning the US exports more to it than it imports — the “universal” tariffs remain unchanged at 10 percent.

But, Time Magazine explains, “for countries with which the US has a trade deficit, the new baseline rate is 15 percent, which will apply to around 40 countries. More than a dozen other countries will face still higher tariff rates, either imposed by Trump or obtained through trade agreements with the US.”

So far, the US has forged trade deals or framework agreements with the European Union, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Vietnam and the Philippines.

In our case, the US initially announced a 17-percent tariff on Philippine goods last April, later raising it to 20 percent. But following President Marcos Jr.’s July state visit, the US reduced it to 19 percent.

Immediately, the meager 1-percent reduction invoked its share of sneers, with many castigating government officials with the argument that we could have struck a better deal in the face of our “special relations” with the US.

Former lawmaker Joey Salceda, however, said obsessing on the 19-percent levy was misplaced since “only around 31 percent of Philippine exports will be subjected to the 19-percent tariff” and Marcos officials were able to “quietly” secure tariff exemptions, particularly on electronics, wood, metals, fuels, and chemicals.

Of those “exempted” products, Salceda said the country’s semiconductor sector is a particular beneficiary. Trump’s order “practically exempt(ed) the entire Philippine semiconductor export sector from the reciprocal tariffs,” he declared.

Trade officials have yet to officially comment on Salceda’s analysis, only announcing that they were still negotiating for a more “mutually beneficial deal” before the tariff’s effectivity today.

But whatever deal the country will be able to negotiate with the US we nonetheless need to watch out and prepare for any eventuality arising from fears the new tariff rates will likely indicate that Trump is fast evolving from a harmless orange TACO into a fierier apocalyptic post-TACO Trump.

Many new acronyms have been suggested to describe the post-TACO Trump, wherein he becomes more than “Trump just being Trump,” wherein he stops bluffing and doubles down on his full-blown doctrine of weaponized instability.

But no matter the derisive monikers, Trump’s deranged tariff doctrine is already eroding trust between the US and its trading partners, say many commentators, and the tensions will be costly in the long term, further cratering America’s trade and diplomatic partnerships with many countries.

Seriously note too that Trump’s high-handed globalized disruptions aren’t solely about correcting trade imbalances. Some countries were subjected to additional tariffs for geopolitical reasons.

Trump last month, for instance, imposed an additional 10 percent on countries aligned with BRICS, the organization of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

BRICS recently got toddler Trump’s goat after it proposed not using American dollars in economic transactions and other policies, which Trump sees as “anti-American policies.”