Countries across the Asia Pacific have been hit with a bewildering array of tariffs since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025. Negotiations for tariff reductions have differed based on military realities and alliance politics, but many countries have largely acquiesced.
The European Union set this precedent by accepting the commercially disadvantageous US–EU trade agreement in July 2025, in the hope of keeping the United States engaged in defending Ukraine. Similarly, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan acquiesced to US tariffs and made investment pledges in the hope of preserving US defensive alliances against China. Australian commentators were angered by Trump’s tariffs, but the Albanese government offered little more than muted protest. Military considerations also factored into subdued acceptance by Malaysia and Singapore.
Before Trump’s second presidential term, the average US applied tariff rate against imports from the world was under 3 per cent. Trump’s April 2025 ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs imposed a jagged profile of applied US tariff rates against imports from different Asian countries.
Chinese exports faced the highest applied tariff rate at 28.8 per cent, followed by exports from Asian countries with no US military ties — Cambodia at 16.9 per cent, Indonesia at 12.1 per cent and Myanmar at 21.8 per cent. Only three Asia Pacific economies were eventually spared a sharp escalation in applied tariffs — Australia at 2.8 per cent, Singapore at 1.6 percent and Taiwan at 2.8 per cent) — all US military allies.
