New Tariff Rates and Copper Section 232 Ruling

At 7pm on Thursday 7/31/2025 President Trump gave his reciprocal tariffs a second chance to come to the forefront. Back in April his tariffs were the star of the show... for 2 days. We'll see how long they last this time. The tariffs are generally much less than expected, with most nations having significant reductions from their letters that were given a couple weeks ago. There are also some other surprises like Brazil's ridiculous 50% being split between 2 separate orders, 10% for reciprocal and 40% for ostensibly not allowing American citizens and companies to be given a right of free speech, but in reality because Trump is upset about the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro. However there is a very extensive list of exceptions to the tariff, so it isn't quite as terrible as it seems. Still, I find that the arguments about this extra 40% are incredibly flimsy and I'd expect it to be challenged in court.

But let's get down to the meat of the issue and give the numbers. There are 70 nations listed in the executive order and any nation not listed is to get a 10% tariff rate.

Afghanistan	15%
Algeria	30%
Angola	15%
Bangladesh	20%
Bolivia	15%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	30%
Botswana	15%
Brazil	10%
Brunei	25%
Cambodia	19%
Cameroon	15%
Costa Rica	15%
Côte d`Ivoire	15%
Democratic Republic of Congo	15%
Ecuador	15%
Equatorial Guinea	15%
European Union (column 1 > 15%)	0
European Union (column 1 < 15%)	15% minus the value of column 1
Falkland Islands	10%
Fiji	15%
Ghana	15%
Guyana	15%
Iceland	15%
India	25%
Indonesia	19%
Iraq	35%
Israel	15%
Japan	15%
Jordan	15%
Kazakhstan	25%
Laos	40%
Lesotho	15%
Libya	30%
Liechtenstein	15%
Madagascar	15%

Malawi	15%
Malaysia	19%
Mauritius	15%
Moldova	25%
Mozambique	15%
Myanmar	40%
Namibia	15%
Nauru	15%
New Zealand	15%
Nicaragua	18%
Nigeria	15%
North Macedonia	15%
Norway	15%
Pakistan	19%
Papua New Guinea	15%
Philippines	19%
Serbia	35%
South Africa	30%
South Korea	15%
Sri Lanka	20%
Switzerland	39%
Syria	41%
Taiwan	20%
Thailand	19%
Trinidad and Tobago	15%
Tunisia	25%
Turkey	15%
Uganda	15%
United Kingdom	10%
Vanuatu	15%
Venezuela	15%
Vietnam	20%
Zambia	15%
Zimbabwe	15%

To be clear, there are still several unknowns with these tariffs. The most important is the Federal Appeals case from a group of US small businessmen began on July 31 as well. The case is arguing that the President cannot use IEEPA to levy tariffs at all. Indeed, IEEPA is usually used for sanctions and the like and has never been used to levy tariffs, those have always been Congress responsibility. Unfortunately, there is no way to know how long the appeal will take.

Additionally, there is still the lingering shadow of the threat of an extra 10% for BRICS countries. And we also have no definition on what India's extra punishment will be for using Russian oil. It is interesting because Trump tried Venezuelan oil secondary tariffs as a threat to China but never used it. It is unknown at this time whether the secondary Russian oil tariff will be used or not.

Lastly, there is the new copper section 232 duty. There is a list of copper articles and derivatives available and it's not as extensive as steel and aluminum. This is likely because this is potentially only just the beginning. The current 50% tariff on copper products only covers a slew of semi-finished copper products. Like Aluminum and Steel Derivatives, the copper derivatives will only have 50% based on the value of the copper in the product and the rest of the value will have a standard duty rate. Additionally, any copper object which is also subject to auto tariffs will only need to pay the auto tariff and not be subject to the 50% copper tariff. A further decision is expected in 2026 about other copper products with a currently codified 15% for 2026 and 30% in 2027 for finished copper products. However, as we all know, this could easily change, especially with such a long time period and a mercurial personality.