Trump Starts Global Tariff Wall, Thailand Hit with 36% Tax

[webfact]

 

Livestream screenshot via Youtube

 

Donald Trump has announced retaliatory tariffs on countries with which the U.S. has a trade deficit. The new tariffs, starting at 10%, affect a wide range of countries, with Thailand facing a 36% tariff.

 

On 2nd April 2025, President Trump held a press conference at the White House announcing the implementation of tariffs on nearly all imported goods into the US, beginning at 10%. However, certain countries, including Thailand, will face much harsher tariffs due to significant trade deficits with the US.

 

Under this new system, tariffs will vary across countries. While the UK, Brazil, and several others begin at 10%, Thailand faces a steep 36% tariff. Other nations are also heavily impacted, with Vietnam at 46% and Cambodia at 49%.

 

 

 

 

During his announcement in the White House Rose Garden, Trump boldly declared, "The US has been plundered and stolen from by many nations, both ally and adversary." He touted the measure as a liberation for American industry, stating, "This will be remembered as the day American industry was reborn and America’s destiny reclaimed."

 

Trump underscored this as a beginning of a new golden era for the US economy, also taking the opportunity to criticise previous trade relations with Canada and Mexico, both already subjected to a 25% tariff.

 

Highlighting his strategy, Trump added, "This tariff is a partial response. We haven’t hit back fully as it would be burdensome for many nations, a step we wish to avoid." Moreover, the tariffs will extend to foreign-manufactured cars imported into the US, enforcing a 25% rate from midnight on 2nd April.

 

 

pic.twitter.com/v5WMU5wofc

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 2, 2025

 

 

Based on a story by Thai Rath, BBC, CNN

 

-- 2025-04-03

 

 

[hotsun]

Oof. Thats gonna hurt for thailand losing the american consumer. Maybe they should drop their tariffs against the US

[daveAustin]

Gonna hurt US consumers more than anyone. 
“plundered and stolen from”

lol. He has no clue about economics. The US has benefitted hugely in price and diversity from everyone that sells to them. They can’t make most of what they buy in. 

[hotsun]

3 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

Gonna hurt US consumers more than anyone. 
“plundered and stolen from”

lol. He has no clue about economics. The US has benefitted hugely in price and diversity from everyone that sells to them. They can’t make most of what they buy in. 

Americans will simply not buy products from Thailand. Thai businesses will be forced to either shut down or move to the US

[jonclark]

The good old Trump. Every business he has attempted to run has failed miserably (Trump steaks, Trump University,Trump airlines etc etc). And people think this will Make America Wealthy. Nope America will just be cut out of the supply chain and it's consumers will pay more. Americans think America is too big to fail..well I think Trump with his business acumen will test that theory. Yanks just don't coming running to the rest of the world when it all goes tits up. 

[jonclark]

3 minutes ago, hotsun said:

Americans will simply not buy products from Thailand. Thai businesses will be forced to either shut down or move to the US

An Thais and the rest of the world will shun American products.  How the Tesla stock price doing? 

[jts-khorat]

10 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

Gonna hurt US consumers more than anyone. 
“plundered and stolen from”

lol. He has no clue about economics. The US has benefitted hugely in price and diversity from everyone that sells to them. They can’t make most of what they buy in. 

 

These are the final days of the US dollar as reserve currency. The more the world is forced to disengage with the Americans, the less valuable it becomes as vehicle of trade.

 

And with the reserve currency gone, also the political influence of the US will be gone. Good riddance, I say!

 

The better reserve currency would be the Euro, or maybe a basket of Euro and Yuan: much more reliable, and by nations who understand equal trade.

[hotsun]

1 minute ago, jonclark said:

An Thais and the rest of the world will shun American products.  How the Tesla stock price doing? 

You people vastly underestimate the power of american consumerism. Thailand is toast

[sammieuk1]

What an utter cock 🐓 Keir move your arse this relationship is not special it's toxic 🤔

 

[jts-khorat]

3 minutes ago, hotsun said:

You people vastly underestimate the power of american consumerism. Thailand is toast

 

Good luck then, that Thailand has the largest consumer market right at its doorstep, China.

 

Maybe it does not need American consumers at all; there will be a time of pain though, sure, but in the long run it is the USA that will hurt the most if it detaches from the whole world as a market.

[hotsun]

1 minute ago, jts-khorat said:

 

Good luck then, that Thailand has the largest consumer market right at its doorstep, China.

 

Maybe it does not need American consumers at all; there will be a time of pain though, sure, but in the long run it is the USA that will hurt the most if it detaches from the whole world as a market.

Thailand will probably drop their tariffs once they feel the pain. Everything they do is a kneejerk reaction. They probably dont even understand why they have 90% tarriffs on the US

[jts-khorat]

10 minutes ago, hotsun said:

Thailand will probably drop their tariffs once they feel the pain. Everything they do is a kneejerk reaction. They probably dont even understand why they have 90% tarriffs on the US

 

Is it true though, that Thailand has an average tariff of 90% or even just 72% on US goods? I call bullsh*t.

 

Wherever Trump has the numbers from, I could not find a single statistic that comes even close to those numbers. So maybe it would be nice if one of his followers could enlighten us with such a source?

 

This is what the Bangkok Post had to say: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2993202/us-tariffs-expected-to-dent-thai-gdp

 

Quote

Thailand is on the "Dirty 15" list of countries that could be affected by Trump tariffs. On average, the US tariff on Thai imports is 2%, while Thailand levies an average tariff of 8% on American products.

 

[007 RED]

I bet that someone will be wishing that they had purchased F16s now instead of Saab Gripens.  In fact, had they opted for the F18 they may have been eligible for a rebate 

[jts-khorat]

1 minute ago, 007 RED said:

I best that someone will be wishing that they had purchased F16s now instead of Saab Girfens.  In fact, had they opted for the F18 they may have been eligible for a rebate 

I rather guess that nobody in their right mind will ever buy American weapons again, if they can be switched off unilaterally, while Trump hits the buyers on top of it with his tariffs like they are literally the enemy.

 

This alone will cost the American economy hundreds of billions.

[hotsun]

4 minutes ago, jts-khorat said:

 

Is it true though, that Thailand has an average tariff of 90% on US goods? I call bullsh*t.

 

Wherever Trump has the numbers from, I could not find a single statistic that comes even close to those numbers. So maybe it would be nice if one of his followers could enlighten us with such a source?

Sorry, 72%

 

i know the world was better when america was the worlds doormat. How dare they create a fair trade environment

[proton]

what is Thailands tariff on importing a Tesla etc still 300%?

[Jingthing]

National economic suicide.

The biggest tax rise for U.S. consumers in history.

Too bad he skipped his classes at economics school.

The idiocy is truly epic. 

Yet the maga cult will stick with him till the bitter end.

[safarimike11]

19 minutes ago, jts-khorat said:

 

These are the final days of the US dollar as reserve currency. The more the world is forced to disengage with the Americans, the less valuable it becomes as vehicle of trade.

 

And with the reserve currency gone, also the political influence of the US will be gone. Good riddance, I say!

 

The better reserve currency would be the Euro, or maybe a basket of Euro and Yuan: much more reliable, and by nations who understand equal trade.

The 3 words that count in your statement are: euro, basket and currency.

[dinsdale]

Lots of hype about this. Let's see what happens 6 months in. 

[Paul45]

32 minutes ago, hotsun said:

Thai businesses will be forced to either shut down or move to the US

 

I don't think any Americans want to work in sweatshop factories making the cheap junk that Thailand exports.

[Harrisfan]

2 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

National economic suicide.

The biggest tax rise for U.S. consumers in history.

Too bad he skipped his classes at economics school.

The idiocy is truly epic. 

Yet the maga cult will stick with him till the bitter end.

So all these nations skipped their classes too then 

[Jingthing]

Shifting to where the U.S. does the low value grunt work and China takes over the high value tech and services.

 

In Ttump's vulgar vernacular, he thinks he has all the cards but that is arrogant delusional buffoonery. The entire world will simply dump the U.S. 

 

The damage he's doing is PERMANENT.

[realfunster]

When we transitioned to globalism, there was a lot of domestic pain across developed countries.

Those of a certain age will remember the mass layoffs in the manufacturing/manual jobs industries as these were offshored and we switched to a service based economy.

 

This is still a developing scenario but perhaps we are seeing the start of a globalism re-set.

I believe all will be looking for a negotiated settlement which will water down these tariffs. We will see how things develop.

 

The tariffs are broad but you can see a pattern of heavier tariffs on those whom the White House are not acting in good faith. 

The US has no responsibility to subsidise other economies.

I guess the White House feels that many countries take too much advantage of the status quo whilst engaging in protectionist policies themselves.

 

Closer to home, as I have mentioned elsewhere :

1) Thailand has highly protectionist import and business restrictions.

2) Thailand runs a healthy trade surplus with the US, which the US might accept if it were not for (1) and I speculate particularly (3)

3) Thailand runs an unhealthily large trade deficit with US-nemesis China. Partly as China appears to have been able to side-step point (1). 

 

No particular view on whether this is the right approach, I'm just trying to analyse things beyond "Trump is a c*ck" 🙂  

[jts-khorat]

1 minute ago, Harrisfan said:

So all these nations skipped their classes too then 

 

Again, show us the source where Trump gets his crazy tariff numbers from. I think it does not exist, because it is just one more of his untruths.

[hotsun]

1 minute ago, jts-khorat said:

 

Again, show us the source where Trump gets his crazy tariff numbers from. I think it does not exist, because it is just one more of his untruths.

Good luck to thailand in their trade relationship with china, where they are running a deficit, while they were fleecing the US. 

[ikke1959]

Trump has lost his mind, but we knew it already and still the Americans elected him. Now they have senile man in power that will destroy much more than can be built up worldwide... Anyway America will loose in the end 

[jts-khorat]

1 minute ago, realfunster said:

When we transitioned to globalism, there was a lot of domestic pain across developed countries.

Those of a certain age will remember the mass layoffs in the manufacturing/manual jobs industries as these were offshored and we switched to a service based economy.

 

This is still a developing scenario but perhaps we are seeing the start of a globalism re-set.

I believe all will be looking for a negotiated settlement which will water down these tariffs. We will see how things develop.

 

Globalism was a slow process developing over decades. Trump tries to reset this within days/weeks.

 

Just getting planning permission for a factory takes years, developing a single production line and building it until it produces the first widget several more (I know, I work in Industrial Automation).

 

Even if one would see his policies as having an actual plan behind it, manufacturers cannot react within a time frame which makes relocating to the US feasible. They either go bankrupt or disengage from the American market, if the cost cannot be passed on to the American consumer.

[realfunster]

19 minutes ago, jts-khorat said:

 

Good luck then, that Thailand has the largest consumer market right at its doorstep, China.

 

Maybe it does not need American consumers at all; there will be a time of pain though, sure, but in the long run it is the USA that will hurt the most if it detaches from the whole world as a market.

 

That Chinese consumer market has been there for eternity.

As we speak, Thailand runs a trade surplus with US (beneficial to Thailand) and a massive deficit with China (negative for Thailand) and has done for many years.

I wonder how/why this massive deficit with China will suddenly turn around ?

 

"If" China starts offering more equalised trade with Thailand and others, I wonder how that will impact the Chinese economy 

 

Frankly, I can see why the Yanks have targeted Thailand. Been enjoying a trade surplus with them, whilst subsidising the CCP economy....

 

[Harrisfan]

Whinge whinge. If Trump cured cancer still whinge.

[hotsun]

2 minutes ago, realfunster said:

 

That Chinese consumer market has been there for eternity.

As we speak, Thailand runs a trade surplus with US (beneficial to Thailand) and a massive deficit with China (negative for Thailand) and has done for many years.

I wonder how/why this massive deficit with China will suddenly turn around ?

 

"If" China starts offering more equalised trade with Thailand and others, I wonder how that will impact the Chinese economy 

 

Frankly, I can see why the Yanks have targeted Thailand. Been enjoying a trade surplus with them, whilst subsidising the CCP economy....

 

They will soon find out that being friends with china isnt all its cracked up to be