Trump tariffs: Gulf countries among dozens in limbo as deadline approaches

The US President put some trading partners out of their misery last night - but others are still waiting

Gulf countries are among dozens waiting to find out whether US President Donald Trump's new tariffs will indeed come into effect on August 7.

Mr Trump had threatened to impose the tariffs on August 1 but delayed the deadline by a week only hours before they were supposed to take effect.

Some of America's largest trading partners have reached agreements, or at least the outlines of one, including the EU, the UK and Japan, AP reported.

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“The trade team has been working around the clock to try to be in correspondence with as many countries as possible, but if they haven't heard from us yet, they will in the form of a letter or an executive order by midnight tonight,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump had said on his social media platform Truth Social that the August 1 deadline would not be extended.

As of Thursday afternoon, White House representatives — and Mr Trump himself — had insisted that no more delays were possible.

But when Mr Trump signed the order on Thursday night imposing new tariffs on 68 countries and the EU, the start date of the punishing import taxes was pushed back seven days so that the tariff schedule could be updated. The change — while potentially welcome news to countries that had not yet reached a deal with the US — injected a new dose of uncertainty for consumers and businesses still wondering what’s going to happen and when.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia were both hit with a 10 per cent tariff in April, which represented lower tier of the levies set by the President.

Mr Trump's executive order on Thursday imposed “reciprocal tariffs” ranging from 10 per cent to 41 per cent.

Among Middle East countries, Syria had one of the heaviest tariff rates imposed at 41 per cent, as did Iraq at 35 per cent and Libya at 30 per cent. Jordan and Israel were both hit with 15 per cent.

Earlier this month, Mr Trump suggested he could send a letter to more than a 150 countries informing them of the tariff that they would be charged.

“They’re not big countries, and they don’t do that much business. Not like the ones we’ve agreed with, like China, like Japan,” he told reporters during a recent meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad at the White House.

But he also said he was considering a baseline tariff rate of 15 to 20 per cent.

Mr Trump's negotiations have primarily focused on the largest US trading partners. Total trade with the EU, for example, was an estimated $975.9 billion last year, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

US total trade goods with the UAE in 2024 was estimated at $34.4 billion.

How will the Gulf Co-operation Council be affected?

Economists have said the reciprocal tariffs will have a limited direct impact on Gulf economies because their trade with the US is relatively small.

They have instead pointed to the indirect impact that tariffs will have on the region through global growth and its impact on oil demand.

Tariffs are expected to have some inflationary effects while also dampening growth. Such prospects led the International Monetary Fund to project the global economy to slow from 3.3 per cent growth in 2024 to 3.0 per cent this year. The latest figure is an upwards revision from its April forecast owing to some easing in trade tension and tariff front-loading, the fund said.

“Despite these welcome developments, tariffs remain historically high, and global policy remains highly uncertain,” chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters.

Who has Trump announced deals with?

Among the major US partners Mr Trump has signed trade agreements with are Vietnam, South Korea and Japan. He also announced a trade deal on Sunday with the EU, in which the US would charge a 15 per cent tariff on European imports. Mr Trump placed the same levy on Japanese and South Korean goods.

The UK, Pakistan and Indonesia have also reached trade deals.

However, Mr Trump has yet to come to an agreement with three of the four largest US trading partners: China, Mexico and Canada.

Mr Trump on Thursday said he and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had agreed to extend a period in which Mexico would pay tariffs on fentanyl, cars, steel, aluminium and copper for 90 days as the two sides continue discussions on a trade agreement.

Separately, he said Canada's plan to recognise the state of Palestine at a coming UN meeting would not be a deal-breaker in talks between Washington and Ottawa. He had previously said Canada's plan to recognise the state of Palestine would jeopardise discussions.

Meanwhile, China is on a separate deadline of August 12 after Beijing and Washington previously agreed to reduce their escalatory tit-for-tat tariffs.

China Vice Premier He Lifeng said the two sides had agreed to work on extending that deadline by 90 days after two days of talks in Stockholm this week, Reuters reported, citing a statement from China's Ministry of Commerce.

Which countries have received trade letters?

For those who have not struck a trade deal with the US, Mr Trump has sent their leaders letters outlining their tariff rate.

Iraq and Tunisia were among roughly two dozen countries to have received a letter from Mr Trump. The letters, which were nearly identical except for the new tariff rate, had warned each country not to announce retaliatory measures.

President Donald Trump announced a 30 per cent tariff on Iraq imports in a letter to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani. Screengrab / Truth Social

South Korea, which had also received a letter, later agreed to a deal that would lower the new US tariff rate to 15 per cent from 25 per cent.

Mr Trump separately threatened to slap a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods, accusing the government of enabling the war in Ukraine through its purchases from Russia.