Business & Economics
Trump Slaps Extra 25% Duty on All U.S. Trade With Countries Dealing With Iran
On 13 Jan 2026 President Trump declared—without published regulations—that every nation maintaining commerce with Iran will immediately face an added 25 % tariff on all of its exports to the United States.
Focusing Facts
- India’s cumulative tariff wall on its goods entering the U.S. would jump from an already-applied 50 % to 75 % if the order is enforced, according to former U.S. diplomat Evan Feigenbaum.
- China bought roughly 90 % of Iran’s oil exports in 2025—about 1 million barrels per day—putting most of that flow, and Beijing’s recently lowered 30.8 % average U.S. tariff rate, back in jeopardy.
- The U.S.–China tariff truce reached in Oct 2025 had cut average duties on Chinese goods from 40.8 % to 30.8 %; the new Iran-linked surcharge threatens to reverse that gain.
Context
Washington has used trade penalties to coerce third parties before—the 1806 Non-Importation Act against Britain and France and the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act both triggered unintended economic blow-back—but this proclamation revives the tactic on a global digital stage. The move extends a two-decade trend of the U.S. shifting from finance-sector sanctions to broad, transaction-based pressure, treating every customs gate as a lever of foreign policy power. Whether enforced or not, the threat signals to allies and rivals that tariff schedules, once negotiated multilateral instruments, are now variable tools for immediate geopolitical coercion. If replicated by others or upheld by U.S. courts, it could normalise weaponised tariffs and erode the post-1947 rules-based trade system; if it fizzles, it will read as another short-lived experiment like Nixon’s 10 % “import surcharge” of 1971. Either way, on a century horizon it tests the elasticity of the global trading order: do nations continue integrating under predictable rules or fragment into spheres where market access is routinely swapped for political concessions?
Perspectives
International business media
e.g., Moneyweb/Bloomberg, Reuters — Warn that Trump’s 25 % tariff threat jeopardises the fragile U.S.–China trade truce and heightens uncertainty for global supply chains and markets. By viewing the announcement chiefly through the prism of investor confidence and tariff arithmetic, they privilege corporate and market stability concerns, giving less attention to the human-rights or security arguments Trump cites.
Indian business press
e.g., The Indian Express, Economic Times — Stress that the extra duty will squeeze India’s already tariff-hit exporters—especially tea, rice and other low-margin goods—and could harm New Delhi’s limited trade with Tehran. Focusing on domestic economic fallout, these outlets downplay the protests in Iran and present the U.S. move largely as an unfair blow to India, reflecting a national-interest lens.
Policy and geopolitical analysis outlets
e.g., News.az, Businessday NG — Portray the measure as a form of extraterritorial coercion meant to reassert U.S. dominance, likening it to secondary sanctions that risk retaliation from powers such as China. Their emphasis on U.S. hegemonic overreach and prospective backlash may understate the leverage tariffs could give Washington in curbing Iran’s crackdown or nuclear ambitions.