Trump announces that a 25% tariff will be imposed on Japan and South Korea starting August 1st

U.S. President Trump announced that starting August 1st, a 25% tariff will be imposed on goods imported from Japan and South Korea to the United States. This move marks the beginning of the U.S. government's implementation of unilateral tariff policies on countries that have not yet reached trade agreements with it. These two Asian countries are the first targets in the trade demand letters and agreements that the Trump administration promised to release intensively this week. Trump is accelerating the reform of U.S. trade policy in his second term, continuing to bring uncertainty to markets, central bank officials, and corporate executives. All parties are struggling to assess the impact of this policy on production, inventory, hiring, inflation, and consumer demand—even without this constantly changing tariff policy, regular business planning is already difficult. According to the letters released by Trump, the tariff levels for Japan and South Korea basically meet his previous warnings. Trump initially imposed a 24% tariff on Japan and a 25% tariff on South Korea. After what he called a 90-day reciprocal tariff extension, Trump reduced these tariffs to 10% to allow time for negotiations. (Golden Ten) [Odaily Planet Daily]