WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump will keep minimum global tariff rates at 10 per cent, resisting prior suggestions he could raise the floor to 15 per cent or higher, according to a White House statement July 31.

The White House separately released a list of tariff rates on imports from several other trading partners that had yet to finalise trade frameworks as

his Aug 1 deadline nears.

The White House made the announcement in a fact sheet, which said the president had signed an executive order on July 31. It was unclear how many trading partners will receive the minimum so-called reciprocal tariff rate and how many will receive higher levies.

Senior US officials said that the tariff rate will be 10 per cent for trade partners the US enjoys a trade surplus with. The US goods trade surplus with Singapore was US$2.8 billion in 2024, suggesting that Singapore would fall in this category.

Mr Trump also signed a separate order that

increases the tariff rate on Canada to 35 per cent from 25 per cent,

with the higher levy taking effect on Aug 1. That change excludes goods that are covered under a US-Mexico-Canada free trade pact he negotiated in his first term.

The rates come hours before Mr Trump's self-imposed deadline, and will hit a wide range of mostly smaller- and medium-sized economies countries that Mr Trump showed little interest in bargaining with. Bloomberg