Trump imposes tariffs of 10% to 41% on dozens of countries, hours before deadline | Trump tariffs

US president Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing reciprocal tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations, as he extended the deadline for a tariff deal with Mexico by another 90 days.

Rates were set at 25% for India’s US-bound exports, 20% for Taiwan and 30% for South Africa ahead of Trump’s self-imposed deadline to strike trade deals with countries around the world by 1 August.

Brazil’s tariff rate was set at 10%, but a previous order signed by Trump placed a 40% tariff on some Brazilian goods, to punish the country for prosecuting its former president, Jair Bolsonaro, for trying to overturn an election he lost and inspiring his supporters to storm the seat of government.

Separately, the White House announced that Canadian imports will face tariffs of 35%, not the current 25%. Trump had threatened on Wednesday that Ottawa’s move to recognise a Palestinian state would make agreeing a trade deal “very hard”.

Some of the world’s poorest and most war-torn countries were hit with punitive rates, including Syria, which faces a levy of 41%; Laos and Myanmar with rates of 40%; Libya with a rate of 30%; Iraq with 35% and Sri Lanka with 20%. Switzerland faces a rate of 39%. The rates are set to go into effect in seven days, according to the order.

Earlier, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said countries that have not received a prior letter on tariffs from Trump or negotiated a trade framework would be notified of their likely tariff rates, either in the form of a letter or Trump’s executive order.

China faces a separate deadline for its higher tariffs of 12 August, with an extension to the truce agreed in principle but yet to be approved by the White House.

The US president said he had made the decision to offer more time to Mexico because of the complexities of the trading relationship.

He wrote on social media: “We will be talking to Mexico over the next 90 Days with the goal of signing a Trade Deal somewhere within the 90 Day period of time, or longer.”

A little more than two weeks ago Trump threatened the EU and Mexico with tariffs of 30% on most exports to the US from 1 August, but last Sunday he concluded a deal with Brussels with a 15% baseline rate from 1 August.

Mexico’s rate will now continue at 25% for another 90 days. Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: “I have just concluded a telephone conversation with the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, which was very successful in that, more and more, we are getting to know and understand each other.

“The complexities of a Deal with Mexico are somewhat different than other Nations because of both the problems, and assets, of the Border.

“We have agreed to extend, for a 90 Day period, the exact same Deal as we had for the last short period of time, namely, that Mexico will continue to pay a 25% Fentanyl Tariff, 25% Tariff on Cars, and 50% Tariff on Steel, Aluminum, and Copper.”

He said Mexico had agreed to “immediately terminate its Non Tariff Trade Barriers, of which there were many” although he did not specify which.

Non-tariff barriers can range from complex paperwork to trading standards and food regulations.

The extension may fuel more mockery that “Trump always chickens out” of his own deadlines, but after strong-arming leading economies including the EU and Japan into punitive tariff deals his threatening strategy seems to be paying off.

When Trump announced what he called “liberation day” on 2 April, he said he would impose punitive “reciprocal” tariffs on trading partners across the world in retribution for what he described as years of looting, pillaging and scavenging of the US.

By 31 July just eight countries or economic blocs had reached formal agreements with the White House: the UK, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Pakistan and the EU.

The US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Thursday that a deal with Beijing was “close”, while Trump claimed last week that one with Australia was not far off.

Cambodia and Thailand were also in reach of a deal, according to the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, earlier this week. However they both appeared on Thursday’s executive order with rates set at 19%.

With agencies