President Donald Trump on Monday set a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, as well as new tariff rates on a dozen other countries.

The country’s new president, in office for a little over a month, had just dispatched his senior deputies to Washington to try to work out a trade deal.

While South Korean imports to the U.S. face 25% tariffs, the same as Trump promised in April, the rate on Japan has been raised by 1 percentage point to 25%.

In letters so far to 14 countries, including smaller exporters to the United States such as Serbia, Thailand and Tunisia, Trump hinted at opportunities for additional negotiations, even while warning that reprisals would draw a like-for-like response.

Japan and South Korea, the United States’ closest security allies in Asia and key partners in its effort to counter China, were sent scrambling Tuesday after the U.S. president renewed his threat to impose steep tariffs on their goods,

South Korea said it will review regulations flagged by the US while pressing for an easing of sectoral tariffs after President Donald Trump sent a letter with a new August deadline for imposing 25% across-the-board levies.

Donald Trump said South Korea should pay for its own defence as he ramped up pressure on the Asian ally ahead of the imposition of a 25 per cent tariff on imports from the country.The president said it was “very unfair” that the US was paying for the defence of a successful country,

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he's imposing a 25% tariffs on goods from Japan and South Korea beginning on August 1 as the Republican continues his pressure campaign on longtime U.S ...

Trump imposes tariffs up to 40% on 14 countries, pressuring allies to shift production to the US and avoid ties with BRICS. Tensions mount globally.