Trade war: Trump reveals first nations to pay delayed ‘liberation day’ tariffs

Donald Trump has revealed hefty trade tariffs against at least seven countries, to be applied from 1 August. The initial announcement, via his Truth Social platform, concerned Japan and South Korea. Both would face 25% rates on all goods, he said. Malaysia and Kazakhstan were later added to the list, while South Africa was told it faced a 30% rate. Laos and Myanmar were hit with 40% duties. It marks the restart of the threatened “liberation day” escalation that was paused in April, for 90 days, to allow for negotiations to take place with all US trading partners. The US…