US slaps broad new tariffs on 60 major trading partners
Severity: FLASH
Detected: 2026-07-24T08:21:12.946Z
Summary
The US imposed new tariffs of 10–12.5% on imports from 60 major trading partners, reportedly covering 99.4% of US imports. This is a large, sudden trade shock that will raise global growth and inflation uncertainty, weigh on risk assets, and could shift commodity demand mix and currency dynamics.
Details
-
What happened: Washington has announced across-the-board tariffs of roughly 10–12.5% on imports from 60 major trading partners, including the UK, EU, China, Canada, Japan, India, and others. The coverage is reported at 99.4% of all US imports, implying this is not a sectoral or targeted measure but a near-universal tariff wall. This is a major escalation relative to earlier, more selective trade measures and effectively rewrites the terms of US engagement with the global trading system.
-
Supply/demand impact: In the short term, front-loading behavior is less relevant since coverage is already near-universal; instead, firms face an immediate jump in landed costs. For commodities, this will have mixed effects. Higher input costs and weaker global growth prospects are negative for cyclical commodities (industrial metals, some energy products) over a 6–18 month horizon, as global trade volumes and capex adjust downward. However, the tariffs will also add to inflationary pressures inside the US, which can support nominal commodity prices (particularly gold) via lower real yields and a weaker dollar if markets price more aggressive policy intervention or fiscal stress.
-
Affected assets and direction: The initial reaction should be risk-off: EM FX and export-oriented equities (especially in Asia and Europe) face downside. Industrial metals like copper, aluminum, and iron ore are likely to trade lower on global growth concerns. Agricultural markets may see rotation in trade flows rather than net demand loss, but US farmers could face more retaliation risk in future, pressuring soybeans and corn if counter-tariffs emerge. Gold and possibly other precious metals should benefit from heightened macro and policy uncertainty. The US dollar’s direction is ambiguous: risk-off supports it, but structural concerns about US policy and higher inflation risk could cap gains versus G10 safe havens like CHF and JPY.
-
Historical precedent: The 2018–2019 US–China tariff war caused repeated 1–3% daily moves in copper and double-digit drawdowns in global trade proxies as measures ratcheted higher. This announcement is broader in scope, so the signaling effect for deglobalization is even stronger.
-
Duration: This is a structural shock, not a transient headline. Unless rapidly reversed, it changes investment and supply-chain decisions over a multi-year horizon. Expect a sustained risk premium in gold and periodic growth scares hitting cyclicals and EM assets as specific retaliation and exemptions develop.
AFFECTED ASSETS: Copper, Aluminum, Iron ore, Gold, Soybean futures, Corn futures, S&P 500, MSCI EM FX index, USD/CNH, EUR/USD, JPY/USD
Sources
- OSINT