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President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Aug. 6, 2025.<\/p>\n
Bonnie Cash | UPI | Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The main challenge for the global economy in 2025 can be summed up neatly in one word, “tariffs,” with President Donald Trump upending longstanding U.S.’ trading relationships when he announced in April new import duties and “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries.<\/p>\n
Months of policy pivots and fraught negotiations followed, with some countries able to strike deals with the White House to either lower \u2014 as in the case with Switzerland \u2014 or pause and delay, as with China \u2014 a raft of higher duties on goods and commodities sent to the States. <\/p>\n
Trade tariffs have become the weapon of choice for Washington as it seeks to \u2014 in its view \u2014 redress trade imbalances with a number of major trading partners, such as China and the European Union, that it feels have been disproportionate and unfair.<\/p>\n
While trade deals have been agreed this year, with the U.K., EU, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia all agreeing framework accords with the U.S., work goes on behind the scenes to implement those agreements.<\/p>\n
And all the time, there is massive uncertainty over the fate of global tariffs, with the Supreme Court set to rule on the legality of Trump’s “reciprocal” duties<\/a>. Trump, for his part, has said the U.S. faces “economic disaster” if the court rules against the duties.<\/p>\n Below is a list of the tariffs currently in place, as of December 2025:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n