Trump Announces 20% Tariffs On Philippines

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 20% tariffs on all goods imported into the United States from the Philippines, escalating the trade war that was kicked off in April following the “Liberation Day” announcement.

In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said these tariffs on the Philippines will kick in from August 1 and will cover all goods imported from the country.

“Please understand that the 20% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with your Country,” President Trump said.

At the time of writing, President Trump announced tariffs on the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Iraq, Libya, and Sri Lanka. This is in addition to the tariffs announced on 14 countries on Monday.

President Trump also noted that goods transshipped to evade tariffs would be subject to the higher applicable levy. Transhipping refers to the practice of rerouting goods through another country before shipping them to the U.S. This is usually done to take advantage of lower duties applicable to the third country.

Further, President Trump added that if the Philippines retaliates by raising tariffs on U.S. goods, the Trump administration would counter it by tacking on 20% levies on the retaliatory tariffs imposed by the Philippines.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities remained optimistic on Wednesday as Wall Street digested the impact of President Trump’s tariff policies as the July 9 deadline is here.

At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up 0.25%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) gained 0.27%. Stocktwits data shows retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF has been in the ‘bullish’ territory over the past week.

The announcement comes after Trump has already announced tariffs on South Korea, Japan, and 12 other countries. The President also announced plans to impose 50% tariffs on copper and up to 200% levies on pharmaceutical imports.

President Trump has also warned that there will be no more tariff deadline extensions.

“TARIFFS WILL START BEING PAID ON AUGUST 1, 2025. There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change,” he said.

More trade letters are expected in the afternoon. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the Trump administration expects its tariff collections to touch $300 billion by year-end, after having touched the $100 billion mark already.

While there has been no new progress on the China deal, Bessent said he is going to meet his Chinese counterpart in the next two weeks.

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