According to US President Donald Trump, his party will start sending official letters to countries around the world starting this Friday informing them of the new tariff rates that will be imposed on their imported goods.
The move marks a significant change from the Trump administration's original plan which previously intended to sign separate trade agreements with dozens of countries.
Trump said that since the US faces more than 170 countries, it is impossible to negotiate individual agreements with all of them in a short period of time.
The letters will be sent in stages to 10 countries at a time and will detail tariff rates between 20 and 30%, depending on the country involved.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously expected more than 100 countries to receive reciprocal tariffs of 10%, while several additional agreements are expected to be finalized before the July 9 deadline.
The initial list released shows that 123 jurisdictions, including small countries and remote territories such as Australia's Heard and McDonald Islands, will receive a 10% tariff rate.
However, major trading nations such as the European Union, India and Japan will be subject to higher rates, at 20%, 26% and 24% respectively, while other countries that have not yet started any negotiations will also face much higher tariffs, including Lesotho (50%), Madagascar (47%) and Thailand (36%).
So far, only Britain and Vietnam have managed to reach an agreement with Washington to lower their tariffs.
Malaysia?
