US starts collecting Trump’s new tariff

U.S. customs agents have started collecting President Donald Trump's unilateral 10% tariff on all imports from many countries.

Among the countries first hit with the 10% tariff are Australia, Britain, Colombia, Argentina, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. 

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection bulletin to shippers indicates no grace period for cargoes on the water at midnight on Saturday.

The initial 10% baseline tariff took effect at U.S. seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12:01 a.m. ET (0401 GMT), ushering in Trump's full rejection of the post-World War Two system of mutually agreed tariff rates.

“This is the single biggest trade action of our lifetime,” said Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade lawyer at Hogan Lovells and former White House trade adviser during Trump's first term.

Shaw told a Brookings Institution event on Thursday that she expected the tariffs to evolve over time as countries seek to negotiate lower rates. 

Source: Agencies