Uganda has been slapped with a 15% tariff on its products exported to the USA as the White House unveiled a new trade policy starting August 7 that affects virtually every nation, cementing a break from decades of free trade and signaling a new protectionist era.
A tariff a tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports. This means that Uganda’s goods and services imported into the USA will be more expensive than it has been and that could lead to reduction in the trade volumes between the two countries.
A tariff of 10% will remain for countries with which the US has a trade surplus, which is most of them. About 40 nations with which the US has a trade deficit face a 15% floor. Deals with China and Mexico are still pending.
The Trump administration is ditching a long-standing tax exemption for low-cost packages as part of the new tariff regime, the White House has announced Thursday.
The so called “de minimis” exception currently applies to commercial shipments worth less than $800. These can be imported to the US without taxes and complicated paperwork.
According to the White House, this exemption will end on August 29 for all shipments sent outside the postal system.
A threshold like this is common in many countries, although the US one is among the higher ones. For comparison, the threshold is $170 in the European Union, $177 in the UK and $70 in Japan.
In the East African region its only Uganda that has been affected by Trump’s new tax regime .
