US customs agents began collecting President Donald Trump’s unilateral 10% tariff on all imports from many countries today, with higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners due to start next week.
The initial 10% “baseline” tariff took effect at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses at 12.01am local time (5.01am Irish time), ushering in Mr Trump’s full rejection of the post-World War II 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 Mr Trump’s first term.
Ms Shaw told a Brookings Institution…