Trump says 25% tariffs on Japan, South Korea starting August

The United States will impose 25% blanket tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea starting Aug. 1, President Donald Trump revealed Monday.

Trump, in a pair of Truth Social posts, shared screenshots of letters apparently sent to Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung dictating the new tariff rates.

The two form letters appear to be the first of what Trump said could be as many as 15 letters sent between Monday and Wednesday, the deadline when his so-called reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries were scheduled to snap back to the higher levels he had set in April.

U.S. financial markets fell to session lows on news of the letters. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 447 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 lost 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.9%.

Both letters say that the 25% tariffs are separate from additional sector-specific duties on key product categories.

The letters also note, “Goods transshipped to evade a higher Tariff will be subject to that higher Tariff.” Transshipping in this case appears to refer to the practice of transferring goods to an interim country prior to their final shipment to the U.S., in order to skirt tariffs.

The form letters assert that the new tariff rates are necessary in order to correct for persistent U.S. trade deficits with the two countries.

Trump, an avowed tariff fan and a skeptic of free trade deals, regularly points to those deficits as evidence that the U.S. is being taken advantage of by its trade partners. Experts have criticized the view that trade deficits are inherently bad and questioned whether the U.S. can or should seek to close them.

The U.S. in 2024 had a $68.5 billion goods deficit with Japan and a $66 billion goods deficit with South Korea, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

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