Trump's Tariff Scorecard: Every Major Country, Graded

Update, Sept. 28: The map has moved since Sept 18. Trump and Xi met in Washington on Sept 24 for a three-day summit — AI talks ended at "continue discussions" with no formal agreement, and the tariff truce was extended to January 10 following Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's Sept 20 New York talks with China's He Lifeng, where the U.S. proposed an AI safety notification mechanism. Still ahead: U.S.–Brazil talks on the G20 sidelines on Sept 30, and the expiry of the U.S.–China tariff pause in early November.

President Donald Trump in a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Gimhae International Airport, Busan, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2025. The two leaders meet again in Washington on Sept. 24, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok, via Wikimedia Commons; released for publication by news organizations.) Photo credit: Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok, via Wikimedia Commons.

President Donald Trump's trade wars have entered a new phase — and the map looks nothing like it did a year ago. The Supreme Court killed his broadest tariff weapon in February. He rebuilt the arsenal with narrower laws. Some allies bought their way to lower rates with hundred-billion-dollar investment pledges. Others got hit with the steepest duties in modern American history. Here is where every major country stands as of September 18, 2026 — and the two meetings in the next six days that could redraw the map again.

The new tariff rulebook: Section 301, 232 and 338

On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down Trump's sweeping emergency-power tariffs in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, wiping out duties that had ranged from 10% to 50% on nearly all U.S. trading partners. The administration did not retreat. It rebuilt the tariff wall on three narrower legal foundations, according to the Tax Foundation's 2026 tracker and Brookings' tariff tracker (updated September 15):

1. Section 301 "forced labor" tariffs — 10% or 12.5% on about 60 countries, effective July 24, 2026. The administration says these countries failed to curb imports made with forced labor. The United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and India landed in the 10% bucket; China, South Korea and Japan got 12.5%.

2. Section 232 sector tariffs — the durable layer. Untouched by the court ruling: 50% on steel, aluminum and copper; 25% on autos (10% on buses); 100% on patented pharmaceuticals (July 31, 2026); 100% on larger drones and 25% on smaller ones (September 2, 2026); 25% on furniture and 10% on lumber. Tariffs stack — a single shipment can face base duty plus country surcharge plus sector rate at once.

3. Section 338 of the 1930 Tariff Act — up to 50%, never used before. This Depression-era provision lets a president impose duties up to 50% on countries deemed to discriminate against U.S. business, with no investigation required and no time limit. It is the weapon Trump aimed at Canada.

Countries that negotiated tariff relief: UK, EU, Japan, India

United Kingdom — the first deal, the template. The U.S.-UK Economic Prosperity Deal (May 8, 2025) was the administration's first bilateral agreement of the tariff era. The first 100,000 British cars a year enter at an all-in 10% rate; aerospace tariffs were eliminated; a separate steel and aluminum arrangement keeps UK metals at 25% if they are at least 95% UK-origin. Britain sits in the 10% forced-labor bucket, but its digital services tax remains an open sore — Washington calls it "discriminatory" and wants it gone.

European Union — 15%, locked in July 1. The Turnberry framework (July 27, 2025) capped U.S. tariffs on most EU goods at 15% — half the threatened 30% — in exchange for a $600 billion EU investment pledge in the United States and $750 billion in EU purchases of American energy, plus arms deals. The European Parliament approved the EU's side 440–151 in June 2026, and the deal took effect July 1. The fine print expires at the end of 2029 with safeguards letting Brussels suspend concessions if Washington breaches terms. The peace is fragile: Trump threatened 100% tariffs on French wine in June unless Paris drops its digital sales tax.

Japan — $550 billion for 15%. Tokyo's July 2025 deal cut a threatened 25% rate to 15% in exchange for a $550 billion investment pledge, including a Japanese role in the administration's $80 billion Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor buildout. Japan now also faces the 12.5% forced-labor rate on top.

India — from 50% to 18%. New Delhi's turnaround is the year's most dramatic. After Trump imposed 25% tariffs plus a separate 25% penalty over Russian oil purchases, a February 2026 deal — announced after Trump's call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi — cut the country rate to 18% and dropped the oil penalty entirely after India pledged to halt Russian crude purchases. India committed to buying over $500 billion in U.S. energy, technology, coal and other products and to cut tariffs on U.S. industrial and farm goods. India's July 2026 forced-labor rate is 10%, with about 45% of its exports to the U.S. exempted (pharmaceuticals, smartphones, steel, aluminum, auto parts).

South Korea — the deal that is stuck. Seoul's July 2025 handshake promised $350 billion in U.S. investments for a cut from 25% to 15%. Then nothing tangible followed. In January, Trump threatened to reimpose 25% because South Korea's National Assembly had not approved the framework; Seoul created a state-run Korea-U.S. Strategic Investment Corporation to manage the pledges, and a memorandum on $100 billion for Texas nuclear projects could be finalized as early as this week, per the Seoul Economic Daily. Korean officials have said paying $350 billion upfront could trigger a currency crisis — the won trades near its weakest since 2008–09. South Korea also sits in the 12.5% forced-labor bucket.

Hardest-hit countries: Canada, Brazil and China tariffs

Canada — 50%, and a trade war. After three days of talks collapsed in late August, Trump imposed 50% Section 338 tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods — wine, furniture, dairy, cement, clothing, even hockey equipment — with no USMCA exemption. Prime Minister Mark Carney retaliated "dollar for dollar": Canadian tariffs of 15% to 50% on $20 billion of U.S. goods took effect September 8. "You're at war when you get attacked. We got attacked," Carney said. Trump has since threatened 50% on all Canadian cars and trucks. The politics are cutting against the White House: a Reuters/Ipsos poll found Americans about four times as likely to blame Washington as Ottawa, only 20% support higher Canada tariffs, and Republican Senator Susan Collins — whose Maine depends on Canada for 69% of imports — has voted four times against the duties and calls the trade war a "mistake." Formal USMCA revamp talks have begun with Mexico. With Canada, they have not.

Brazil — 50%, and it was never just about trade. Brazil faces the highest U.S. tariff rate of any major economy: 50% total since August 2025, imposed after Trump's objections to the prosecution of his ally Jair Bolsonaro. The administration later spared 471 products — coffee, orange juice, crude oil, fertilizer, pig iron, aircraft parts — mostly commodities America cannot easily replace. What stayed taxed is mostly manufactured: shoes, clothing, furniture, machinery, ethanol. A further 25% Section 301 tariff over Brazil's trade practices took effect July 22, 2026. In-person talks are scheduled September 30 on the sidelines of a G20 trade meeting in Wisconsin — weeks before Brazil's presidential election, where Lula is expected to face Bolsonaro's son Flavio.

China — truce, not peace. Beijing sits in the 12.5% forced-labor bucket and has lodged "serious concerns" over U.S. restrictions. But the two sides are in a managed truce: a 90-day tariff pause extended in Stockholm in late July (approved by Trump on August 12) runs to early November; Chinese rare-earth flows to the U.S. were restored; and the two countries set up a Board of Trade to explore duty cuts on some $30 billion in goods. China also committed to at least $17 billion in U.S. farm purchases through 2028. TikTok's status, AI rivalry, and China's purchases of Iranian oil all hang over the talks.

Iran and Russia — the sanctions hammer. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has vowed "economic D-Day" on Iran. Washington has sanctioned three banks — including Russia's VTB — plus Iranian proxy networks, Iran's entire aviation industry, and several Chinese independent refineries that buy Iranian oil. Larger Chinese financial institutions have so far been spared, despite Bessent's warnings that Washington "will not tolerate any support for Iran."

The watch list

Mexico: In the 10% bucket, USMCA-qualifying goods still enter at 0% — but the administration has announced it will not renew the USMCA in its current form. It now enters annual reviews for up to 10 years and could expire in July 2036 if no extension is agreed.

Vietnam: USTR has opened a new Section 301 investigation into Vietnam's intellectual property practices — the classic prelude to fresh duties.

France and the digital-tax club: Trump proposed 100% tariffs on June 26 against countries imposing digital services taxes on U.S. tech firms, and specifically threatened 100% on French wine. Paris has not repealed its tax.

Generic drugs: Trump has threatened tariffs of 100% or more on imported generic drugs if they are not made in the United States within two years.

What it means for Americans

Strip away the diplomacy and the scorecard lands in three places: prices, jobs and leverage. Sector tariffs of 50% on steel and aluminum and 25% on autos raise costs that "almost always trickle down to households in the form of higher prices," as trade lawyers note — and Canada's retaliation was deliberately designed, in Minister Mélanie Joly's words, to apply "political pressure" on U.S. exporters. The Maine example is concrete: more than 80% of the state's heating oil and gasoline comes from Canada, which is why Collins pressed for — and won — exemptions on road salt and cement.

The leverage question is the open one. The administration's model is clear: threaten the maximum, collect investment pledges (over $1.5 trillion announced across the EU, Japan, South Korea and India deals), and keep the legal machinery shifting faster than courts can rule. Critics — from Seoul's finance ministry to the New York Times' February analysis — note that many pledges are loans, guarantees and MOUs rather than cash, and that the Supreme Court has already voided one tariff regime. Whether the current one survives the next legal challenge will decide how much of this scorecard is permanent.

What's next: key tariff dates to watch

The calendar now matters more than the history. This weekend (Sept. 19–20), Bessent meets Vice Premier He Lifeng — with trade, tariffs, TikTok, Iran sanctions and possibly AI on the agenda — in what Bessent calls "very good confidential talks" continuing. September 24, Xi Jinping visits Washington for a summit with Trump, with AI rivalry and chip access hanging over it; AI chiefs including Sam Altman and Elon Musk are converging on the capital at the same time. September 30, U.S. and Brazilian officials meet on the G20 sidelines. And in early November, the U.S.–China tariff pause expires. Any one of those dates can move a country from one column of this scorecard to another.

Related: Bessent on U.S.–China AI risk talks; AI leaders demand slowdown, Trump calls it a "hoax".

FAQ

Which country faces the highest U.S. tariff rate right now? Brazil, at 50% total on most goods (with 471 products exempted), followed by Canada at 50% on about $20 billion of targeted goods. Sector tariffs of 50% on steel/aluminum/copper and 100% on patented drugs and large drones apply globally regardless of country.

Did the Supreme Court end Trump's tariffs? No. Its February 20, 2026 ruling struck down only the emergency-power (IEEPA) tariffs. The administration rebuilt duties under Section 301, Section 232 and Section 338 — which courts have not invalidated.

Which countries got the best deals? The UK (first 100,000 cars at 10%, aerospace tariffs zeroed), the EU (15% all-inclusive ceiling in effect since July 1), Japan (25% cut to 15% for a $550 billion pledge) and India (25% cut to 18%, Russian-oil penalty dropped). South Korea's deal is effectively frozen over its $350 billion pledge.

What happens next? Watch four dates: the Bessent–He Lifeng meeting this weekend (Sept. 19–20), the Trump–Xi summit (Sept. 24), U.S.–Brazil talks on the G20 sidelines (Sept. 30), and the expiry of the U.S.–China tariff pause in early November.